]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

He wore a thick overcoat, made long ago,
And the beard on his chin was white with the snow.
He spoke a few words, and went straight to his work;
He felt all the pulses,--then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
With a nod of his head to the chimney he goes:--
"A spoonful of oil, ma'am, if you have it handy;
No nuts and no raisins, no pies and no candy.
These tender young stomachs cannot well digest
All the sweets that they get; toys and books are the best.
But I know my advice will not find many friends,
For the custom of Christmas the other way tends.
The fathers and mothers, and Santa Claus, too,
Are exceedingly blind. Well, a good-night to you!"
And I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight:
"These feastings and candies make Doctors' bills right!"

[Illustration]

NELLY'S VISIT

One summer, Nelly's auntie, who lived in the country, asked her to
come and make a good, long visit, and you may be sure Nelly was very
glad to go.

[Illustration]

She had always lived in the city, and she thought it great fun to feed
the hens and chickens and calves, and to watch all the animals and
talk to them.

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Cousin Fred was about her own age, so it was very pleasant for them to
play together. Fred took her around the farm and told her about all
the pets, and they soon knew her as well as though she had always
lived there.

Milly, one of the horses, would eat out of a spoon, and Nelly and her
cousin took turns feeding her. When they went away, she whinnied for
them to come back again, but Nelly said, "You shall have some more
to-morrow; you mustn't be a piggy-wiggy."

[Illustration]

One day Fred and Nelly gathered flowers in the woods, and Nelly made a
wreath to put upon her cousin's head.

"It seems just like fairyland out here," she said. "Let's play it is
fairyland, and I'm a fairy and you're a brownie."

[Illustration]

Fred thought that a very good game indeed, and they played that they
lived in the flowers and could change themselves into birds, or
squirrels, or people, whenever they wished.

But bye and bye they got hungry, and they couldn't live on the honey
from the flowers, as real fairies might; so they spread out the lunch
which they had brought and decided to be children again. It seemed as
though they had never tasted anything quit