a fir from the forest as a hair-brush is
like a palm.

Then began the scheme of its decoration. One of the geniuses broke up
countless bottles, for the red and green glass they afforded, and,
tying the pieces in slings of cord, hung them in great profusion from
the tree's peculiar arms. From the ceiling of his place of business,
Bone, the barkeep, cut down a fluffy lot of colored paper, stuck there
in a great rosette, and with this he added much original beauty to the
pile. Out of cigar-boxes came a great heap of bright tin-foil that
went on the branches in a way that only men could invent.

The carpenter loaded the structure with his gaudy blocks. The man who
had promised to make a "kind of kaliderscope" made four or five instead
of one. They were white-glass bottles filled with painted pebbles,
buttons, dimes, chopped-up pencils, scraps of shiny tin, and anything
or everything that would lend confusion or color to the bottle's
interior as the thing was rolled about or shaken in the hands. These
were so heavy as to threaten the tree's stability. Therefore, they had
to be placed about its base on the floor.

The blacksmith had made a lot of little axes, shovels, picks, and
hammers, all of which had been filed and polished with the greatest
care and affectionate regard for the tiny man whose tree and Christmas
all desired to make the finest in the world.

The teamster had evolved, from the inside lining of his winter coat, a
hybrid duck-dog-bear that he called a "woolly sheep."

One of the men had whittled out no less than four fat tops, all ringed
with colors and truly beautiful to see, that he said were the best he
had ever beheld, despite the fact that something was in them that
seemed to prevent them from spinning.

Another old fellow brought a pair of rusty skates which were large
enough for a six-foot man. He told of the wonderful feats he had once
performed on the ice as he hung them on the tree for little Skeezucks.

The envy of all was awakened, however, by Field, the father of the
camp, who fetched a drum that would actually make a noise. He had
built this wonder out of genuine sheep-skin, stretched over both of the
ends of a bright tin can of exceptional size, from which he had eaten
the contents solely with the purpose in view of procuring the metal
cylinder.

There were wooden animals, cut-out guns, swords and daggers,
wagons--some of them made with spools for wheels--a sled on which the