hull lot o' yer!_" 62

VII. THE BIRDLING FLIES AWAY 63

"_My Ain Countree_" 65

"_I thought of the Star in the East_" 69

THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL

I

A LITTLE SNOW BIRD

It was very early Christmas morning, and in the stillness of the dawn,
with the soft snow falling on the house-tops, a little child was born in
the Bird household.

They had intended to name the baby Lucy, if it were a girl; but they had
not expected her on Christmas morning, and a real Christmas baby was not
to be lightly named--the whole family agreed in that.

They were consulting about it in the nursery. Mr. Bird said that he had
assisted in naming the three boys, and that he should leave this matter
entirely to Mrs. Bird; Donald wanted the child called "Dorothy," after a
pretty, curly-haired girl who sat next him in school; Paul choose
"Luella," for Luella was the nurse who had been with him during his
whole babyhood, up to the time of his first trousers, and the name
suggested all sorts of comfortable things. Uncle Jack said that the
first girl should always be named for her mother, no matter how hideous
the name happened to be.

Grandma said that she would prefer not to take any part in the
discussion, and everybody suddenly remembered that Mrs. Bird had thought
of naming the baby Lucy, for Grandma herself; and, while it would be
indelicate for her to favor that name, it would be against human nature
for her to suggest any other, under the circumstances.

Hugh, the "hitherto baby," if that is a possible term, sat in one corner
and said nothing, but felt, in some mysterious way, that his nose was
out of joint; for there was a newer baby now, a possibility he had never
taken into consideration; and the "first girl," too,--a still higher
development of treason, which made him actually green with jealousy.

But it was too profound a subject to be settled then and there, on the
spot; besides, Mamma had not been asked, and everybody felt it rather
absurd, after all, to forestall a decree that was certain to be
absolutely wise, just, and perfect.

The reason that the subject had been brought up at all so early in the
day lay in the fact that Mrs. Bird never allowed her babies to go over
night unnamed. She was a person of so great decision of character that
she would have blushed at such a thing; she said that to let bles