A SUMMER CHRISTMAS
Although they had intended to stay but a fortnight, Patty and Elise
remained with the Warners all through the month of June, and even then
Bertha begged them to stay longer.
But the day for their departure was set in the first week of July, and
Bertha declared that they must have a big party of some kind as their
last entertainment for the girls.
So Mrs. Warner invited a number of young people for a house party during
the last few days of Patty's stay.
"I wish," said Bertha, a few days before the Fourth, "that we could have
some kind of a party on the Fourth of July that would be different from
just an ordinary party."
"Have an automobile party," suggested Roger, who was present.
"I don't mean that kind," said Bertha, "I mean a party in the house, but
something that would be fun. There isn't anything to do on Fourth of July
except have fireworks, and that isn't much fun."
"I'll tell you what," said Mr. Phelps, who was at Pine Branches on one of
his flying visits, "have a Christmas party."
"A Christmas party on Fourth of July!" exclaimed Bertha, "that's just the
thing! Mr. Phelps, you're a real genius. That's just what we'll do, and
we'll have a Christmas tree, and give each other gifts and everything."
"Great!" said Roger, "and we'll have a Yule log blazing, and we'll all
wear our fur coats."
"No, not that," said Bertha, laughing, "we'd melt. But we'll have all the
Christmas effects that we can think of, and each one must help."
The crowd of merry young people who were gathered at Pine Branches
eagerly fell in with Bertha's plan, and each began to make preparations
for the festival.
The girls made gifts which they carefully kept secret from the ones for
whom they were intended, and many trips were made to the village for
materials.
The boys also had many mysterious errands, and Mr. and Mrs. Warner, who
entered heartily into the spirit of the fun, were frequently consulted
under strict bonds of confidence.
Fourth of July came and proved to be a warm, though not a sultry summer
day.
Invitations had been sent out, and a large party of young people were
expected in the evening; and during the day those who were staying at
Pine Branches found plenty to do by way of preparation.
A large Christmas tree had been cut down, and was brought into the
library. As soon as it was set up, the work of decoration began, and it
was hung with strings of popcorn, and tinsel filigree which Mrs. Warner
had saved from previous Christmas trees. Dozens of candles too, were put
on the branches, to be lighted at night.
The boys brought in great boughs of evergreen, and cut them up, while the
girls made ropes and wreaths and stars, with which to adorn the room.
Mr. Phelps had sent to New York for a large boxful of artificial holly,
and this added greatly to the Christmas effect.
Patty was in her element helping with these arrangements, for she dearly
loved to make believe, and the idea of a Christmas party in midsummer
appealed very strongly to her sense of humour.
Her energy and enthusiasm were untiring, and her original ideas called
forth the hearty applause of the others. She was consulted about
everything, and her decisions were always accepted.
Mr. Phelps too, proved a clever and willing worker. He was an athletic
young man, and he seemed to be capable of doing half a dozen different
things at once. He cut greens, and hung wreaths, and ran up and down
stepladders, and even managed to fasten a large gilt star to the very top
branch of the Christmas tree.
After the decorations were all completed, everybody brought their gifts
neatly tied up and labelled, and either hung them on the tree or piled
them up around the platform on which it stood.
"Well, you children have done wonders," said Mrs. Warner, looking in at
the library door. "You have transformed this room until I hardly can
recognise it, and it looks for all the world exactly like Christmas. It
is hard to believe that it is really Fourth of July."
"It seems too bad not to have any of the Fourth of July spirit mixed in
with it," said Winthrop, "but I suppose it would spoil the harmony. But
we really ought to use a little gunpowder in honour of the day. Come on,
Patty, your work is about finished, let's go out and put off a few
firecrackers."
"All right," said Patty, "just wait till I tack up this 'Merry Christmas'
motto, and I'll be ready."
"I'll do that," said Roger, "you infants run along and show off your
patriotism, and I'll join you in a few minutes."
"You must be tired," said Winthrop to Patty, as they sauntered out on the
lawn. "You worked awfully hard with those evergreen things. Let's go out
on the lake and take our firecrackers with us; that will rest you, and it
will be fun besides."
The lake, so called by courtesy, was really an artificial pond, and
though not large, it provided a great deal of amusement.
There were several boats, and selecting a small cedar one, Winthrop
assisted Patty in, sprang in himself, and pushed off.
"If it's Christmas, we ought to be going skating on the lake, instead of
rowing," said Patty.
"It isn't Christmas now," said Winthrop, "You get your holidays mixed up.
We've come out here to celebrate Independence Day. See what I've
brought."
From his pockets the young man produced several packs of firecrackers.
"What fun!" cried Patty, "I feel as if I were a child again. Let me set
some off. Have you any punk?"
"Yes," said Winthrop, gravely producing some short sticks of punk from
another pocket; and lighting one, he gave it to Patty.
"But how can I set them off?" said Patty, "I'm afraid to have them in the
boat, and we can't throw them out on the water."
"We'll manage this way," said Winthrop, and drawing one of the oars into
the boat, he laid a lighted firecracker on the blade and pushed it out
again. The firecracker went off with a bang, and in great glee Patty
pulled in the other oar and tried the same plan.
Then they set off a whole pack at once, and as the length of the oar was
not quite sufficient for safety Winthrop let it slip from the row-lock
and float away on the water. As he had previously tied a string to the
handle so that he could pull the oar back at will, this was a great game,
and the floating oar with its freight of snapping firecrackers provided
much amusement. The noise of the explosions brought the others running to
the scene, and three or four more boats were soon out on the lake.
Firecrackers went snapping in every direction, and torpedoes were thrown
from one boat to another until the ammunition was exhausted.
Then the merry crowd trooped back to the house for luncheon.
"I never had such a lovely Fourth of July," said Patty to her kind
hostess. "Everything is different from anything I ever did before. This
house is just like Fairyland. You never know what is going to happen
next."
After luncheon the party broke up in various small groups. Some of the
more energetic ones played golf or tennis, but Patty declared it was too
warm for any unnecessary exertion.
"Come for a little walk with me," said Roger, "we'll walk down in the
grove; it's cool and shady there, and we can play mumblety-peg if you
like."
"I'll go to the grove," said Patty, "but I don't want to play anything.
This is a day just to be idle and enjoy living, without doing anything
else."
They strolled down toward the grove, and were joined on the way by Bertha
and Mr. Phelps, who were just returning from a call on Abiram.
"I think Abiram ought to come to the Christmas party to-night," said
Bertha, "I know he'd enjoy seeing the tree lighted up."
"He shall come," said Dick Phelps, "I'll bring him myself."
"Do," said Patty, "and we'll tie a red ribbon round his neck with a sprig
of holly, and I'll see to it that there's a present on the tree for him."
The quartet walked on to the grove, and sat down on the ground under the
pine trees.
"I feel very patriotic," said Patty, who was decorated with several small
flags which she had stuck in her hair, and in her belt, "and I think we
ought to sing some national anthems."
So they sang "The Star-Spangled Banner," and other patriotic airs, until
they were interrupted by Winthrop and Elise who came toward them singing
a Christmas carol.
"I asked you to come here," said Roger aside, to Patty, "because I wanted
to see you alone for a minute, and now all these other people have come
and spoiled my plan. Come on over to the orchard, will you?"
"Of course I will," said Patty jumping up, "what is the secret you have
to tell me? Some plan for to-night?"
"No," said Roger, hesitating a little, "that is, yes,--not exactly."
They had walked away from the others, and Roger took from his pocket a
tiny box which he offered to Patty.
"I wanted to give you a little Christmas present," he said, "as a sort of
memento of this jolly day; and I thought maybe you'd wear it to-night."
"How lovely!" cried Patty, as she opened the box and saw a little pin
shaped like a spray of holly. "It's perfectly sweet. Thank you ever so
much, Roger, but why didn't you put it on the tree for me?"
"Oh, they are only having foolish presents on the tree, jokes, you know,
and all that."
"Oh, is this a real present then? I don't know as I ought to accept it.
I've never had a present from a young man before."
Roger looked a little embarrassed, but Patty's gay delight was entirely
free from any trace of self-consciousness.
"Anyway, I am going to keep it," she said, "because it's so pretty, and I
like to think that you gave it to me."
Roger looked greatly gratified and seemed to take the matter with more
seriousness than Patty did. She pinned the pretty little trinket on her
collar and thought no more about it.
Dinner was early that night, for there was much to be done in the way of
final preparations before the guests came to the Christmas party.
The Christmas pretence was intended as a surprise to those not staying in
the house, and after all had arrived, the doors of the library were
thrown open with shouts of "Merry Christmas!"
And indeed it did seem like a sudden transition back into the winter. The
Christmas tree with its gay decorations and lighted candles was a
beautiful sight, and the green-trimmed room with its spicy odours of
spruce and pine intensified the illusion.
Shouts of delight went up on all sides, and falling quickly into the
spirit of it all, the guests at once began to pretend it was really
Christmas, and greeted each other with appropriate good wishes.
Mischievous Patty had slyly tied a sprig of mistletoe to the chandelier,
and Dick Phelps by a clever manoeuvre had succeeded in getting Mrs.
Warner to stand under it. The good lady was quite unaware of their plans,
and when Mr. Phelps kissed her soundly on her plump cheek she was
decidedly surprised.
But the explanation amply justified his audacity, and Mrs. Warner
laughingly declared that she would resign her place to some of the
younger ladies.
The greatest fun came when Winthrop distributed the presents from the
tree. None of them was expensive or valuable, but most of them were
clever, merry little jokes which good-naturedly teased the recipients.
True to his word Mr. Phelps brought Abiram in, leading him by his long
chain. Patty had tied a red ribbon round his neck with a huge bow, and
had further dressed him up in a paper cap which she had taken from a
German cracker motto.
Abiram received a stick of candy as his gift, and was as much pleased,
apparently, as the rest of the party.
Many of the presents were accompanied by little verses or lines of
doggerel, and the reading of these caused much merriment and laughter.
After the presentations, supper was served, and here Mrs. Warner had
provided her part of the surprise.
Not even those staying in the house knew of their hostess' plans, and
when they all trooped out to the dining-room, a real Christmas feast
awaited them.
The long table was decorated with red ribbons and holly, and red candles
with red paper shades. Christmas bells hung above the table, and at each
plate were appropriate souvenirs. In the centre of the table was a tiny
Christmas tree with lighted candles, a miniature copy of the one they had
just left.
Even the viands partook of the Christmas character, and from roast turkey
to plum pudding no detail was spared to make it a true Christmas feast.
The young people did full justice to Mrs. Warner's hospitality, and
warmly appreciated the kind thoughtfulness which had made the supper so
attractive in every way.
Then they adjourned to the parlour for informal dancing, and wound up the
party with an old-fashioned Virginia reel, which was led by Mr. and Mrs.
Warner.
Mr. Warner was a most genial host and his merry quips and repartee kept
the young people laughing gaily.
When at last the guests departed, it was with assurances that they had
never had such a delightful Christmas party, even in midwinter, and had
never had such a delightful Fourth of July party, even in midsummer.