for every time a character is mentioned that one who is taking the part
of the character must get up and turn around.
So Melly and her family played this in the afternoon.
And when it became dark they lighted the lights and the fire was poked up
so that it blazed most beautifully.
They had supper in front of the fire and though each one had said he
couldn’t possibly eat another thing after such a dinner, they all managed
to eat something.
And when Melly went to bed that night she said: “I believe in
Thanksgiving Day! And I have so much to be so thankful for! More, I’m
sure, than anybody else has.”
NOVEMBER 26: Thanksgiving Day
“In 1620 as we all well know,” said daddy, “a ‘little band of Pilgrims’
came to this country, brave, fearless souls who had already met with
difficulties and were not afraid to face more. They had already tried to
cross the Atlantic but their ships had leaked and they had had to go back.
“But they would have nothing to do with such a word as failure—and this
is I think in itself an inspiration to all of us when we feel discouraged
and as though we were failing in what we were trying to do—and so at last
the Mayflower left Plymouth in Devonshire, England, and anchored on the
American coast on November twenty-first.
“Here they were going to have freedom, and though the trip had been a
terrible one and though there were only a hundred of them all told to
keep up each other’s spirits, they did not lose heart.
“They had planned to land on the New Jersey coast, but driven as they
had been by gales and storms they found themselves on the Northern shore
of Cape Cod, New England. Finally they chose Plymouth for their colony.
Then came a terrible winter when over half of their number died, but in
the spring those who had lived through the winter still would not use the
word failure—and decided to stay on.
“And then, at last, came harvest time, and hope and great thankfulness
was in the hearts of these people. So that in the autumn in 1621 they
set aside a day in which they gave ‘solemn Thanksgiving to the glorious
Hearer of Prayers!’
“The first national celebration of Thanksgiving was in 1789 when George
Washington named Thursday, November 26th of that year, as a day to be
observed in which to give thanks for the blessings of the year.
“It was Abraham Lincoln who recommended that the last Thursday in
November should be observed as a day of Thanksgiving.
“And ever since then it has been observed each year all over the country,
and not from time to time in the different states according to whether
their governors proclaimed it as such. Formerly that had been the custom.
“So it was Lincoln who gave us this day as a National holiday and day of
Thanksgiving for every year. But it was because of that little group of
people so many years ago that we have so much for which to be thankful.
“Sometimes it is hard to think that such terrible days followed one after
the other, for the country is so big and prosperous and cultivated now.
But everything has to be begun. And it seems to me that our present-day
joyous Thanksgivings are just what those people, so full of pluck, would
have wanted us to have. For people who could be so brave and who could
endure so much for what they believed was right, could not help but have
hearts full of love and capable of great happiness.”
NOVEMBER 27: Good News
“I’ve been here in the zoo for some time,” said Daddy Buffalo, “and of
course I do not keep up very well with the news outside of the zoo.
“But to-day I heard of some news and it was very good news. I will
tell all the buffaloes about it. I heard that they were protecting the
buffaloes more and more all the time, now.
“I was told that they didn’t go after buffaloes to kill them but that
they brought some of them to a zoo and people learned of their ways and
of their habits and became interested in them, and others they left quite
free. Surely that is good news for buffaloes.”
NOVEMBER 28: The Newsboy’s Dog
The town authorities came to a poor little newsboy who owned a dog
and told him they would have to take his dog unless he paid for a dog
license. But the little boy hadn’t enough money and he did not know what
to do, when some kind people overheard the conversation. They told the
men that they had plenty of money and quickly paid for the license of
the little brown dog. The boy then almost cried for joy.
So the little dog wagged his tail when his master told him to thank the
kind people, for he saw quickly that his master once more was happy.
NOVEMBER 29: The Gun-Metal Watch
“A very rich and spoiled little girl,” said daddy, “owned a gun-metal
wrist watch. It kept very bad time, and she had it mended again and again.
“One day she went and had it fixed for the very last time, she said, and
several days afterward the watch would not go for more than a half hour
at a time. She took it back to the watch mender and was told that the
only thing that could be done would be to have new works put in it. She
said the watch wasn’t worth that and she was so annoyed that she threw
the watch into the first ash can she saw.
“Well, there passed by a very poor little girl. On top of the ash can she
spied a paper with funny pictures, and she grabbed the paper out of the
ash can, and then, to her amazement, she saw the little watch.
“She ran all the way home to show it to her daddy, for her daddy had
often mended watches for people just as favors, as his real business was
that of a fruit dealer.
“When her daddy saw it he said:
“‘This watch has been fussed with so much that it is no wonder it refuses
to go. I will see that it goes.’ And sure enough he did.
“The watch went beautifully, and the little poor girl wore her gun-metal
watch with the greatest pride.
“Every one had to ask her the time, of course, every few minutes so she
could look at her watch, and if they didn’t ask her the time often enough
she would tell them of her own accord.
“Now, the little rich girl was given a gold watch as a present from her
daddy, but it didn’t give half the pleasure that the little gun-metal
watch gave the little girl whose very own daddy mended the watch for her.”
NOVEMBER 30: Barnyard Thoughts
“I can celebrate Thanksgiving time,” said the pig, “for I am so thankful
I do not live in the city.” And then the pig squealed this song:
“Grunt, grunt,” he said, “I’d think it a pity.
If I were forced to live in the city.
There would be no nice mud in which to dig,
A poor place indeed for a sensible pig!”
“Quack, quack,” said the ducks, “and what is more there’d be no place
to swim,
In the city we’d lose our life I’m sure, and certainly our vim.”
“And,” said the cow, “I agree with you too!
In the city I’d not have the spirit to moo.
There’d be no green meadows and nothing to chew,
Oh, what in the world would a poor cow do?”
And all the animals began singing, and talking, grunting, squealing and
quack-quacking.
And all of them said, in their different kinds of ways:
“We’ll never, never leave the farm, we’ll stay here all our days!
We’d hate it in the city where they say it’s crowded so,
We’ll never add to the crowds, we say; to the city we’ll never go!”
“That is a fine chorus, grunt, grunt,” said the pig, “and a fine song of
Thanksgiving.”
DECEMBER 1: The Toy-Shop
“Why, here we are again,” said the first toy to the second toy as they
looked at each other on a counter in the shop, for they had met before in
Santa’s workshop.
“Oh!” continued the first toy. “A child is coming to look at us! Oh,
there are ever so many children coming into the shop, and there are
grown-ups too, and their voices—oh, aren’t their voices nice! They sound
so merry and so happy and as if they loved each other and the whole world.
“I’m being bought, I do believe,” the first toy added.
“Oh, so am I,” said the second toy. “I’m going to be wrapped up.”
“We must be going to be presents from the mothers and daddies of the
children as Santa will come to get most of these toys just before
Christmas.”
“Good-by,” said the second toy; “merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” said the first toy. “Oh see! How the children are
standing outside that window looking at the tree with all our friends
upon it!
“Wouldn’t you think the window would break? See their faces right against
the window pane.”
And as Santa Claus heard the reports of the pleasure of the children over
this year’s toys, he smiled to himself and said:
“That is all I want as a reward for my work!”
DECEMBER 2: A Story of the Fireplace
Jack and Evelyn and daddy were watching the dance which was taking place
in the Fireplace. They saw the beautiful costumes the Fire Fairies wore
and they saw them blaze and flame and then become quiet. “They’re eating
their supper now,” said daddy. “The Fire Fairy cooks have finished
everything and now they are all enjoying the goodies.”
But soon the flames began to die down and only a few little flashes of
light and fire were seen from time to time.
“Those flashes and flames,” said daddy, “are some of the Fire Fairies who
are still wide awake enough to ask the Fire Witches questions. For the
Fire Witches tell bedtime tales. Soon the Fairies will be sound, sound
asleep. They love to be put to sleep by the Fire Witches.”
The flames died down entirely and only a little smoldering went on in the
Fireplace.
“The witches are saying good-night,” said daddy. “Then they too will go
to bed. But the ashes that will be left—nice warm ashes—they will be the
pleasant dreams that are left behind for the Fire Fairies.”
The fire had gone out! Only some ashes could be seen, but in one corner a
few red coals had appeared.
“What are they?” asked the children.
“They’re the King and Queen of the Fireplace and they’ve come to see that
their people are all fast asleep. Then they will go to sleep, but they
will first whisper a ‘Thank you’ to the Witches who tell the marvelous
stories.” And just as daddy said that, the children heard a faint,
crackling noise, and then they knew that every creature of the Fireplace
had gone to sleep in their warm ashes of pleasant dreams.
DECEMBER 3: The Pig Who Had No Table Manners
“I have a fairy tale to tell you this evening,” said daddy, “of a little
pig who left his mother to visit the fox family.
“The foxes, as you know, are very careful about their table manners
and also extremely proud and were quite disgusted with little Piggy
Look-a-do’s table manners, for instead of saying ‘Thank you,’ he’d just
grunt when anything was passed to him. He swallowed his food without
chewing it at all. He would reach across the table, and if he couldn’t
reach a thing he’d climb on the table, much to the horror of all the
other animals. Well, in fact, he behaved so badly that all his other nice
mannered playmates simply would not have anything to do with him and just
called him ‘pig.’
“Even Br’er B’ar couldn’t like him because of his bad manners, and
finally he just had to go out and root in the ground for something to
eat. Of course when he did that he ruined his lovely little clothes, his
white shoes and trousers became all muddy, and his little speckled coat
got very rusty looking.
“Piggy Look-a-do realized that he was losing his good looks, for the
little pink nose looked white and his eyes very dull. He was too proud
to return home to his mother, so he wandered through the woods trying to
find something to eat. Finally he came to an apple orchard belonging to a
mountaineer. This was the end of poor Piggy Look-a-do, for the next day
he was killed and came on the table, roasted nice and brown, with a big
red apple in his mouth, and made a fine feast for the old mountaineer and
his family.”
DECEMBER 4: Jimmie’s Airplane
“A little boy named Jimmie,” said daddy, “wanted a toy airplane for a
Christmas present.
“Well, Jimmie wrote a letter to Santa Claus not long ago, and he wrote
the following:
“‘Please, dear Santa Claus, give me a little toy airplane. For when I’m a
big man I want to go up in the air in a real one! I’d love to fly and so
I’d like a little airplane which would fly around the room as I’ve seen
them do in the store. The store at the second corner after you pass my
house has one. It looks like a nice one, too.
“‘Wishing you a Merry Christmas, your loving friend Jimmie.’ And Santa
has reserved the airplane for his little friend Jimmie, I’ve heard,”
concluded daddy.
DECEMBER 5: The Christmas Dog
“A little girl named Peggy,” said daddy, “wrote a letter to Santa Claus,
and this is what she said:
“‘Dear Santa Claus: I would like a rag doll and a doll which
says Mamma and Papa, and can shut her eyes. I also want a book
and a set of paints, and please, dear Santa, bring my mother
and daddy a doggie to guard the house. I want a doggie too,
but mother and daddy also want one, so we could all share one
doggie.
“‘Your affectionate little friend,
“‘PEGGY.
“‘P. S.—Please give my love to your Reindeer and a great deal
of love for you, dear Santa Claus.
“‘PEGGY.’
“She put her letter down by the fireplace and the next morning it was
gone, for she had addressed it quite correctly to ‘Mr. Santa Claus, By
the Fireplace.’ As he was on the lookout for letters such as these around
Christmas time, of course, he got it safely.
[Illustration: “IF HE COULDN’T REACH A THING HE’D CLIMB ON THE
TABLE”—_Page 282_]
“Now Santa Claus loves to get letters. His mail around Christmas time
is tremendous. But the more he gets, the more he chuckles and laughs to
himself. ‘Oh this is splendid,’ he says, as he opens letter after letter.
Days went by and Peggy kept wondering what Santa Claus would bring her
for Christmas. She thought of writing him again about the doggie, for her
mother and daddy would say so often:
“‘It would be a great protection if we only had a dog. This house is
rather far away from the rest, and then we would be safe. Besides, a dog
is such a companionable animal and the children would love him.’
“Somehow, she didn’t like to write again to Santa Claus, but just before
bedtime each night, she would whisper up the chimney—‘Please, dear Santa
Claus, don’t forget the doggie—and the doll, and the paint box—and—and,’
but by this time her mother had led her off, for she would have gone on
talking and talking to Santa Claus. And if she had kept on talking and
missing her sleep, she would have been too tired to enjoy Christmas Day
when it came.
“At last it was Christmas Eve. Again Peggy called up the chimney, and
she put her stocking first on one side and then the other. And by her
stocking hung four smaller ones, for Peggy’s little sisters and brothers.
“‘Good night, Santa Claus, Merry Christmas. My love to the Reindeer,’
called Peggy for the last time. And the younger children called out too,
‘Good night, Santa Claus, give our love to the Reindeer.’
“And off they all trotted to the land of dreams which they had to pass
through before Christmas morning would come.
“The next morning, bright and early, Peggy and her sisters and brothers
were up looking at their stockings. Such goodies as they found! Peggy got
her rag doll, and a doll who could shut her eyes, and say ‘Mamma, Papa.’
And she got a set of paints and a fine book.
“Her sisters and brothers got the presents they had asked for, and they
had such fun over the oranges in their stockings. Several of them were
covered with black soot which Santa had dropped coming down the chimney!
They loved to think of how Santa Claus had picked out these very oranges
himself.
“But when the first excitement was over, Peggy thought to herself, ‘There
is no doggie.’ But then she thought Santa Claus was not supposed to get
her everything she asked for. So after brushing away a tear which had
fallen she began to laugh and play and say, ‘Merry Christmas,’ over and
over and over again, to her mother and daddy, her sisters and brothers.
But in a moment or two they all thought they heard a whimper outside the
front door. ‘I shall see what can be outside,’ said Peggy, with beating
heart. She opened the door! And there stood a little white dog, shivering
miserably in the cold. ‘I have no home,’ the little dog’s eyes seemed to
say, and as Peggy held him closely to her she said, ‘I know Santa Claus
sent you here, and I wish you a Merry Christmas! And this is to be your
home, Doggie dear!’”
DECEMBER 6: The Pride of Toys
“Oh, I’m so proud,” whispered little brown Teddy Bear.
“You’re no more proud than I am,” said a little white lamb. “Please pinch
me—so—and then I will say: ‘Baa-Baa-Baa.’ Ah, that will make some one
happy.”
The toys were in Santa Claus’ toy-shop and they were getting very much
excited. There were still some to be finished—in fact, there were many to
be finished, but none of them were worried, for they knew perfectly well
that Santa Claus never left any toys unfinished.
That was the wonderful part of Santa Claus. He could be rushed and
hurried and he could be so busy that you wondered how it was possible
for him to do so much and you might think, if you didn’t know, that some
of those many, many things wouldn’t be done. But the toys knew, for the
tools which Santa used to make them with whispered to them many secrets.
“He may be busy,” the tools always told the new toys, “but he’ll finish
you and you’ll go to the children on Christmas day.”
“How proud I will be,” whispered the Teddy Bear once more, “if I am put
on a tree. They say that Santa hangs toys on Christmas trees. But then
I would be just as proud if I were put in a stocking. How I would love
to peep my head out from the top of a stocking and see the children as
they come downstairs early Christmas morning! In fact, I would be proud
no matter where Santa put me, or how he gave me. It’s a great big and
wonderful pride to be a toy made by Santa Claus which is given to a child
on Christmas day.”
“That is what we all feel,” said the other toys.
DECEMBER 7: Christmas with the Squirrels
“When Christmas day comes all the little squirrels,” said daddy, “meet
near the largest tree, which they pick out for the occasion. Then there
is a wild scramble up the tree for the branches, where the squirrels
perch themselves, and finally the feast begins.
“After they have finished their scrumptious Christmas dinner they play
‘tag,’ ‘hide-and-seek’ and many other games, which make the branches wave
around as they jump from one tree to the other. Prizes are offered by the
older squirrels for the sports and games which are played. The prizes are
usually extraordinarily big nuts or very red apples. Sometimes, too, kind
children just before Christmas put nuts in the trees where the squirrels
can find them. That makes the squirrels very happy, and they call these
nuts their Christmas gifts.”
DECEMBER 8: How to Address Santa
“Where is Santa’s home,” asked Evelyn, “for we must know where to write
him?”
“He lives way up North,” answered daddy, “but any letter directed to ‘Mr.
Santa Claus, the Chimney,’ will reach him, for he has special reindeer
collecting his letters from the tops of chimneys several weeks before
Christmas. You must put them on the hearth, and on the envelope you must
put a speck of soot, for that is the stamp you use for the letters which
go to Santa Claus Land.”
DECEMBER 9: A Letter to Santa Claus and the Answer
“I saw such a poor little boy to-day,” began daddy to Jack and Evelyn.
“He was looking in a shop window where there were loads of toys, and as
he looked great, huge tears dropped from his eyes and trickled down his
face.
“I spoke to him and asked him where he lived, and for a moment he
couldn’t speak, but between sobs he began to tell me of his life. He was
very ragged and quite dirty.
“He told me his daddy had died in the summer and that a few months
afterward his mother had married a horrid, cruel man who hated him and
called him ‘little nuisance.’ The stepfather didn’t like to work, and as
soon as he had used up his wife’s savings he told the little boy he would
have to beg or steal his food, for he wouldn’t be bothered with him.
“The little boy said that he had always had a happy home, a good warm
fire and plenty to eat when he came home from school, and he simply would
not beg or steal. One night he came home, of course bringing nothing. His
stepfather saw he could neither make him beg nor steal so he forced him
to leave the house. His mother was so afraid of his stepfather that she
did not say a word. Now, he had been away from home for two weeks. He
spent his nights with a little school friend, but he could not stay there
much longer, as the boy’s parents were so poor they could hardly keep
their children. He dreaded the cold, but what he felt more than anything
was that Santa Claus did not know where he was and that he would have no
Christmas.”
“Let’s write Santa a letter right away,” said Evelyn, “and tell him about
the little boy. What’s his name, daddy?”
“His name is Harry Armstrong, and tell Santa to bring his presents here,
for I’ve told him he can do odd chores for us and stay here for a while.”
So Evelyn wrote: “Dear Santa—A poor little boy named Harry Armstrong is
afraid he’ll have no Christmas. So please, dear Santa, send him a warm
suit, an overcoat, a sled, some skates and lots of candy. Your loving
Evelyn.”
Jack and Evelyn had just gone to bed when daddy walked into their room
with a note and a stamp of soot on it. Evelyn hurriedly opened it
and read aloud: “Dear Evelyn—I won’t forget about Harry Armstrong on
Christmas, and you were very dear to think of some one else who wanted a
Christmas. Your friend, Santa Claus.”
“Hurrah!” shouted Jack and Evelyn together.
DECEMBER 10: Betty’s Dream
“Oh, mother, I had such a dream,” said a little girl named Betty. “I
dreamt I saw Santa Claus in his shop. Oh, he was the most beautiful old
man I ever saw in all my life—and oh, mother, his eyes! How they laughed.
And he was making—think, mother—he was making a rag doll! The very sort
of a doll I hope he will give me for Christmas and he was smiling at the
doll. And I saw the whole shop and all the toys—and everything. Oh, I
hope Santa brings me a rag doll.”
Now the Dream King had sent this dream to Betty, and it was as real as a
dream can be. But it was absolutely real that Santa Claus was making a
rag doll and that that rag doll was going to be found Christmas morning
in Betty’s stocking, for the Dream King had told Santa Claus it was what
she wanted and that was why Santa Claus had smiled so—because he knew how
the dolly was going to please Betty!
DECEMBER 11: The Snow Man
“The Brownies and Gnomes thought it would be a fine scheme to make a snow
man,” said daddy. “Billie Brownie made his feet first of all, and so they
made him on up until his head was all ready.
“Then, of course, he had to have a hat, and Peter Gnome made him a very
handsome high one.
“‘We have forgotten something,’ said Billie Brownie.
“‘What?’ they all asked.
“‘A pipe for his mouth,’ said Billie.
“‘To be sure,’ said Peter Gnome. ‘A snow man isn’t a real snow man
without a pipe. We’ll make it right away.’
“So they got some twigs and some wood, and with their little pen knives
they all made pipes. The very best pipe of all was chosen for the snow
man, while the other pipes they put around on the ground beside him.
“‘For,’ said Peter Gnome, ‘he ought to have a little collection of pipes.’
“He was the tallest snow man ever made and he looked so jolly and happy.
He reached so far up that when it grew dark Mr. Moon came out and said:
“‘What is it I see? A man who is almost tall enough to talk to me. What
fun!’
“And how he grinned when he found out the man had been made of snow!”
DECEMBER 12: Sharpy and Chappy
Sharpy, the squirrel, with his friend Chappy were watching some children
as they filled bags with candies and nuts. “We want to make a noise so
they will notice us,” said Sharpy.
“Perhaps they won’t like us,” said Chappy. “And some don’t enjoy noise.”
“They look as if they liked it,” shrieked Sharpy. “Listen to the
children. I don’t believe they will hear us.”
But then Chappy and Sharpy began to scamper over the porch and as they
shrieked at each other, sometimes as if they were scolding and sometimes
as if they were laughing, the children shouted, “Oh, there are two
squirrels!”
Sharpy and Chappy looked their very best, or tried to, standing on their
hind legs and looking very sweet and cunning as they begged. Their little
mouths were moving all the time as if they were quite ready. “We have
quantities of nuts to-day,” said the children, “as we’re getting our
Christmas presents ready. Isn’t that fine?” And I can assure you that
Sharpy and Chappy thought it was fine, too, as they were given all the
nuts they could eat.
DECEMBER 13: Christmas Letters