they all dreamed of Santa Claus.

[Illustration]

Bessie and Clara were the first ones up. They shouted with delight
when they looked in their stockings. There was a dear little dolly in
each stocking--a dolly with real hair and eyes that opened and shut,
and the dollies were dressed very prettily. They were too large to go
into the stockings, so they just stood in them, looking as though they
were ready to jump down.

Willie found the funniest jumping-jack in his stocking, and Tom pulled
a flute out of his. He had everybody awake in no time after that.

Grace was happy when she looked in her stocking. There was a little
plush box in it, and in the box was a lovely gold watch; while Harry
found just what he wanted too--a pair of skates.

But grandma and grandpa were surprised when they discovered the
spectacles and the cane.

"Who in the world could have told Santa what we wanted most?" said
grandma.

Grandpa said he couldn't understand it either, and then Bessie had to
tell the secret.

She ran up to each of them and whispered, "I wrote to him myself!"

Then how they kissed her.

All day long the library was kept closed; not a child was allowed to
peep in. But what fun they had all day, and what a Christmas dinner,
with a plum pudding as big as a pumpkin.

In the evening the library door was opened, and there was the
prettiest Christmas tree, all blazing with candles and hung with
pretty things; while piled around it were books and toys and
everything that everybody wanted most.

And just think of it! There, lying in front of the tree and looking as
happy as the children themselves, was a great, big, noble dog, who got
up and came to meet them as they trooped in.

"Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!" cried Bessie, bending to pat his head. "What's your
name, you great, big darling? Ooo! Ooo! Whose is he, papa?"

"Ask Santa Claus," said papa; and sure enough, Santa Claus stepped out
from behind the tree.

"His name is on his collar," said Santa Claus. Then the children all
rushed for him for they knew it was grandpa dressed up like Santa Claus.

[Illustration]

Afterwards Bessie spelled out the dog's name, "C-a-r-l-o," on his
collar, and her own name on a card which was tied to it, and she was
the happiest little girl in the world.

But everyone else was happy too, and they all said it was the very
merriest Christmas they had ever seen, and Clara and Bessie dreamed
that Santa Claus told them he himself had never had