d me,
somebody, or I'll grab the hull tree an' run away with it."

Uncle Jabez held one foot in both hands before him and joyfully hopped
around the tree.

These relatives had brought their family gifts, some days before, to be
hung on its branches. The thing that caught my eye was a big silver
watch hanging by a long golden chain to one of the boughs. Uncle Peabody
took it down and held it aloft by the chain, so that none should miss
the sight, saying:

"From Santa Claus for Bart!"

A murmur of admiration ran through the company which gathered around me
as I held the treasure in my trembling hands.

"This is for Bart, too," Uncle Peabody shouted as he took down a bolt of
soft blue cloth and laid it in my arms. "Now there's somethin' that's
jest about as slick as a kitten's ear. Feel of it. It's for a suit o'
clothes. Come all the way from Burlington."

"Good land o' Goshen! Don't be in such a hurry," said Aunt Deel.

"Sorry, but the stage can't wait for nobody at all--it's due to leave
right off," Uncle Peabody remarked as he laid a stuffed stocking on top
of the cloth and gave me a playful slap and shouted: "Get-ap, there.
You've got yer load."

I moved out of the way in a hurricane of merriment. It was his one great
day of pride and vanity. He did not try to conceal them.

The other presents floated for a moment in this irresistible tide of
laughing good will and found their owners. I have never forgotten how
Uncle Jabez chased Aunt Minerva around the house with a wooden snake
cunningly carved and colored. I observed there were many things on the
tree which had not been taken down when we younger ones gathered up our
wealth and repaired to Aunt Deel's room to feast our eyes upon it and
compare our good fortune.

The women and the big girls rolled up their sleeves and went to work
with Aunt Deel preparing the dinner. The great turkey and the chicken
pie were made ready and put in the oven and the potatoes and the onions
and the winter squash were soon boiling in their pots on the stove-top.
Meanwhile the children were playing in my aunt's bedroom and Uncle Hiram
and Uncle Jabez were pulling sticks in a corner while the other men sat
tipped against the wall watching and making playful comments--all save
my Uncle Peabody, who was trying to touch his head to the floor and then
straighten up with the aid of the broomstick.

By and by I sat on top of the wood with which I had just filled the big
wood-box and