ated, when he came back.

"Oh, my! I guess they did!" said the girl, her eyes sparkling.

"They'd 'a been funny fellows if they didn't," added the boy; "but, 'pon
their words and honors, they wanted it more for their mother--she's such
a good mother, and has so few good things to eat--than they did for
themselves. And it made them feel awful bad when she came home and cried
'cause some wicked thief had stolen her pocket-book with half a week's
earnings in it, and the two-dollar bill that the boss had given her to
buy a Christmas dinner with besides. And so the boy Neal--he's kind of a
nice chap, ain't he, Hetty?"

"Awful nice," replied Hetty, with a mischievous little giggle.

"And he says to his sister--she's awful nice, ain't she, Hetty?"

"Kind of nice," said Hetty, with another little giggle.

"He says to his sister," continued the boy, "'Don't say anything to
mother, but put on your hat, and bring a basket, and we'll make a try
for a merry Christmas dinner--turkey and all.' And they went round the
corner to a beautiful market, kept by a gentleman who looked exactly
like Santa Claus--"

Mr. Onosander Golong laughed aloud this time, and flew to wait on
another particular customer.

"So he looked like Santa Claus?" he said, with a chuckle, when he sat
down on the barrel of potatoes again.

"The very image of him!" said the girl, with great emphasis.

"The boy," began the boy once more, "had run errands for him two or
three times, and each time had got two apples or oranges besides the
reg'lar pay; and he was good to cats and dogs. So this chap went to this
gentleman--he took his sister along, 'cause he thought Mr. Golong would
like to see her--and they told him their story. And the boy says, when
it was done, 'If you would only trust us for a turk--I mean, a turkey,
and a few other things, I'll work for you all holiday week, and another
week too, after school. My name's Neal Todd, and my mother is a real
nice woman, and I love her just as you used to love your mother when you
was a little boy.' And the gentleman, says he, 'Being as it's
Christmas-time, and I look so much like Santa Claus, I'll do it.' And he
did. And that's all."

Mr. Onosander Golong burst out a-laughing, and oh! how he laughed! He
laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. He laughed until he nearly
fell off the barrel. He laughed until everybody far and near who heard
him laughed too, and the very roosters in the poultry shop over the