ises for everybody else. The mystery that surrounded the gifts was my greatest delight and amusement. My friends did all they could to excite my curiosity by hints and half-spelled sentenc

re, we played our guessing game, which grew m

tasy. When I learned that there was a gift for each child, I was delighted, and the kind people who had prepared the tree permitted me to hand the presents to the children. In the pleasure of doing this, I did not stop to look at my own gifts; but when I was ready for them, my impatience for the real Christmas to beg

white bear in my arms. Next morning it was I who waked the whole family with my first "Merry Christmas!" I found surprises, not in the stocking only, but on the table, on all the chairs, at the door,

t me to take all the care of my new pet. Every morning after breakfast I prepared his bath, made his cage clean an

t me as I opened the door. At first I did not realize what had happened; but when I put my hand in the cage and Tim's pretty wings