_SHOPPING FOR CHRISTMAS._
ON Monday afternoon Aunt Annie came for the children, according to
promise, and Aunt Helen was with her.
"For I have a little business with Maggie," said Mrs. Duncan; "but
no one else is to know what it is, so mamma and Bessie are to ask no
questions."
This was delightfully mysterious.
"Nobody is to ask questions at Christmas-time," said Bessie, gravely.
"Mamma made that yule."
"And it is a wise one too," said Aunt Helen.
"How long do you suppose our Meg can keep a secret, Aunt Helen?" asked
Fred.
"I know she has kept one for three months so well, that I am going to
trust her with a second."
"Pretty good for Midget," said Fred.
It was indeed a triumph for heedless Maggie. So carefully had she
kept the secret of the picture, not even saying, "I know something,"
or, "Something is going to happen," that mamma suspected nothing; and
though Bessie knew there _was_ a secret, she had not the least idea
what it might be.
Aunt Helen started first with Maggie, telling her sister Annie and
Bessie to meet them in a certain book-store.
"Now, Maggie," she said when they were in the street. "I am going to
reward you for keeping our secret by letting you choose the frame for
the picture."
The little girl was delighted, but when they reached the store, and she
saw frames of all kinds and sizes, she became confused, and could not
tell which to decide upon.
"That one is too large," said Mrs. Duncan, as Maggie pointed out one
she thought she should like. "No, dear, that is too small again.
There," and her aunt laid four or five of the proper size, in front of
the child; "any of those will do; suppose you choose one from among
them."
So, after some more hesitation, Maggie chose a dark walnut frame, with
silver nails; and Aunt Helen said she had shown very good taste. Then
Mrs. Duncan gave the man directions about the picture, which she had
sent to him in the morning. He bowed and wrote them down, and then
said, looking at the rosy, happy face which was peeping at him over the
counter, "'Tis a capital likeness too, ma'am; never saw a better."
"Aunt Helen," said Maggie, as they left the store, "did that man mean
he knew our Bessie, and thought you made a good picture of her?"
"I thought you were to ask no questions at Christmas-time," said Mrs.
Duncan.
"Oh!" said Maggie. "I did not know I must not ask about things like
that; I thought mamma meant bundles and work, and such things."
Aunt Helen only laughed, and began to talk of something else, and
presently they came to the book-store, where Annie and Bessie were
waiting for them.
At the lower end of this store was a large table, and upon it were a
number of beautiful and useful things intended for presents. There were
writing-cases and work-boxes, paper-cutters and weights, beautiful
pictures and all kinds of knick-knacks.
"Aunt Helen," said Maggie, eagerly, "do you not think we could find
something on that table that would make nice presents for papa and
mamma?"
"I do not doubt it," said Mrs. Duncan, "if you could pay for them; but
I fear, dear Maggie, all those pretty things are quite too expensive
for you to buy."
"Well," said the little girl, with a sigh, "I suppose we may look at
them while you and Aunt Annie buy your books; may we not?"
"If I thought I could trust you not to touch anything, you might. But
some of those things are very costly, and you might do much mischief if
you meddled with them."
"Aunt Helen," said Bessie, looking up with a very sober face, "we never
meddle when we go shopping. Mamma has taught us that, and gen-yally we
yemember what she tells us."
"I believe you do," said Mrs. Duncan, smiling. "Well, then, I will
trust you;" and she and her sister walked to the other end of the store
to look at some books, leaving the children to amuse themselves.
A gentleman was sitting near the table reading a newspaper, and when
Bessie had spoken out so solemnly, he had looked up with a twinkle
in his eye. The little girls did not notice him, however, nor did he
seem to be paying attention to them. They walked round and round, now
peeping at this thing, now at that, but never offering to lay a finger
upon one.
"Oh," said Maggie. "I do wish, I do wish we could buy some of these
beautiful things for papa and mamma! But I suppose we'll have to wait
till we're quite grown up, and then perhaps they will all be gone. Just
see this paper-weight, Bessie. Would it not be nice for papa? But I
think it costs a great deal, and I can only afford twenty cents."
"And see this lovely little picture, Maggie. Mamma would like it so, I
know. See, it has the cross and a pretty vine all around it, and some
words. Can you yead it?"
"S-i-m--sim," spelt Maggie, "p-l-y--ply, simply--to--thy--cross--Oh! it
must be 'Simply to thy cross I cling.'"
"Yes," said Bessie, "it's out of 'Yock of Ages,' and mamma loves that
hymn so much. Oh! I do want it for her! Do you think twenty cents will
buy it, Maggie?"
"I guess not; but we'll ask. I'd like to be grown up for two things, so
I'd never have to go to bed till I chose, and so I could have plenty of
money to give everybody everything they wanted. Just see that picture
of a dog, Bessie. Does it not look like our Flossy? I wish it was
nearer, so we could see it better."
"I can't see it at all," said Bessie, raising herself on tiptoe, to
gain a view of the picture which was in the centre of the table. "I
wish it was nearer, but we must not touch."
"I'd like to see him better, too," said Maggie. "I want to know if he
really is like Flossy, or if he just looks so 'cause he is so far off;
I know I wouldn't break it either if I moved it; but then--we promised."
"And mamma said we were _never_ to touch without permission," said
Bessie; "and we're trusted."
They both stood for some minutes, Maggie looking wishfully at the dog,
Bessie still stretching up her neck in a vain attempt to see him, when
Maggie suddenly said, "Bessie, mamma said it was not right to put
ourselves in the way of temptation, and I think I am doing it. This was
just the way I did the day I meddled with papa's inkstand. I stood
looking at it, and looking at it, and wishing I had it, till at last I
touched it, and did such a lot of mischief. I sha'n't look at the dog
any more, and let's go to the other side, and we wont think about it."
As they turned to do as Maggie proposed, they saw a miserable-looking
face peeping in at the glass door. It was that of a boy about eight
years old, poor, and in rags, his features all pinched with cold
and hunger. He was gazing wistfully at the pretty things and the
comfortably-dressed people who were within, and perhaps wishing that
Christmas brought such happiness to him. As one after another passed in
and out, he held up his thin hand and asked for help, but few heeded
him.
"See that poor boy," said Bessie; "I don't believe he has any money to
buy Christmas presents."
"I'm afraid not," said Maggie; "I guess he has not enough to buy bread
and fire; he looks so cold and thin, and what dreadful old clothes he
has!"
"Poor fellow!" said Bessie, in a pitying voice. "I s'pose he would like
some money very much. Do you think we could spare him a little of ours,
Maggie?"
"If we do, we can't spend so much for our presents," answered Maggie,
pulling out her portmonnaie from her muff and looking doubtfully at it.
"Do you think papa and mamma would mind it, Maggie, if we each gave the
boy five cents, and did not spend quite twenty for them?"
"I don't like to take it off papa's and mamma's presents," said Maggie.
"They are so very good to us, I want to give them all we can; but,
Bessie, I'll tell you. You know I was going to spend ten cents for you,
and you ten cents for me. Now we might only spend five cents for each
other, and then we can each give five to the boy. I don't mind, if you
don't, Bessie."
"No, Maggie, I'd yather give it to him, and then maybe he'll look a
little glad."
So each taking five cents from her pocket-book, they ran to the door
and put the money into the poor boy's hand, who did indeed look "a
little glad" as he received it.
When they came back to the table, the picture of the dog stood just
in front, where not only Maggie but Bessie, also, could see it quite
plainly.
"I hope nobody will think we meddled with that picture," said Bessie.
"No one shall think so," said the gentleman, who had been sitting near,
as he rose and threw down his paper. "I moved it myself."
"Then, if you please, sir," said Bessie, "will you tell the store
people you did it? I s'pose they wouldn't think you were naughty,
'cause you're big; but we are forbidden to touch, and we were trusted."
"And I see you are fit to be trusted," said the gentleman, smiling;
"and I have a right to touch what I please here, for the store and all
the things in it belong to me. Is there nothing upon the table which
you would like to buy?"
"Yes, sir," said Bessie, while Maggie was hanging her head in a
terrible fit of shyness at being talked to by this stranger, "if we
could afford it; but we think all these things cost too much. We have
not a very great deal of money."
"Let me hear what you would like to have, and I can tell you the
price," said the gentleman.
"How much is that paper-weight?" asked Bessie.
"Fifteen cents."
Bessie's eyes sparkled, and Maggie looked up in great surprise.
"And this cross, sir, how much is that?" said Bessie.
"That, also, is fifteen cents."
"Then we'll take them both for papa and mamma. I think you are a very
cheap gentleman, sir. We thought they would be too 'spensive for us
to buy," said the little girl. "Mamma will be very pleased with this
lovely picture."
"I hope so," said the gentleman. "Such a good mamma as you have
deserves to have a present that will please her."
"Do you know my mamma, sir?" asked Bessie, as she handed him the price
of her picture.
"No, but I am sure your mamma is a lady and a good woman, although I do
not know her, and I am sure, also, that she has taught you well, and
that you have paid heed to her lessons."
Bessie was herself quite certain of all this, but she wondered how the
gentleman could know it when he was a stranger to her mother. Perhaps
you and I may be able to guess.
"And papa deserves a nice present, too," she said; "he is an excellent
gentleman."
"I have not a doubt of it," said her new friend. "And now I suppose you
would like to have your purchases wrapped up, so that your papa and
mamma may not see them before the proper time."
"We would like to show them to our aunt first," said Bessie; and she
and Maggie scampered off with their treasures.
But when Aunt Helen saw them, she said there must be some mistake.
"Those things are worth much more than you have paid for them, my
darlings, you have misunderstood; or some one has been joking with you."
"Indeed, indeed, Aunt Helen, we did not make a mistake, and the
gentleman was quite sober," said Maggie.
"Who sold them to you?" asked Mrs. Duncan.
Bessie pointed out the person, and Mrs. Duncan went to speak to him.
Her little nieces looked after her with anxious eyes, fearing lest they
might have made some mistake, and that their new treasures would be
taken from them, and Bessie ran up just in time to hear the gentleman
say, with a laugh, "Surely, I may put what price I please upon the
articles I have for sale."