it looked so much
like a pig when he got done that I pulled off the string tail and mane
and put on a pig's tail, and he said it did look better. You are to use
the money for your very own self and--"

The clock began to strike. One--two--That was all.

"Mercy me!" ejaculated Peace, staring at the accusing faces of her
sisters. "I truly did hear that clock strike as much as five a long time
ago."

"No doubt you did," laughed sunny Hope. "It struck midnight and you woke
up in the middle of the count."

"Let's go back to bed," suggested Gail, anxious to be alone with her
tumultuous thoughts; and to her surprise no dissenting voice was raised,
although as she crept once more beneath the covers of her cot, she heard
Peace say decidedly, "I sha'n't take off _my_ clothes again. Once a day
is enough for any _huming_ being to dress. Do you s'pose Santa will come
again while we sleep?"

It was daylight before they woke from their second nap, and as Peace
flew out of bed once more, she cried in delight, "Oh, it's snowing
again! Now it will seem like Christmas sure! Let's clean off the walks
before breakfast. Gail won't let us eat our candy yet."

She made short work of her toilette, threw on her wraps and was out of
doors almost before Cherry had opened her eyes; but the next moment she
came stumbling back into the house with the wild yell "Girls, girls,
Santa Claus did come again, and left a tre-men-jus big mince pie on the
porch--I picked a teenty hole in the top to see for sure if 'twas
mincemeat--and a bundle of something else. Hurry up, I can't wait to
open it! Oh, the paper fell off, and it's shoes--tennis slippers in the
winter! Think of it! That is worse than Mrs. Grinnell's hair-ribbon,
ain't it?"

"Peace!" cried Gail in shocked tones, entering the kitchen with the rest
of the family at her heels. "You should be _grateful_ for the presents
people give you and not poke fun at them."

"I am grateful, Gail, truly. I ain't poking fun at them, honest, though
they _are_ funny presents for this time of the year. I s'pose, maybe, my
hair will get long enough for a ribbon sometime, though Mrs. Strong says
it is too curly to grow fast. And when summer comes, we can wear these
slippers, if they aren't too small. They look awful little already.
These are marked for Allee, and here are mine, and those are Cherry's.
There aren't any for the rest of you. I s'pose the pie is for you.
You're lucky. I would rather have the pie t