IX MERRY CHRISTMAS FINDS THE HAPPY NEW YEAR

“Merry Christmas!” shouted a gay little voice, so close to Uncle Lemuel’s ear that he turned suddenly and almost dropped the pen with which he was laboriously scratching upon a sheet of paper. “Merry Christmas! You were such a dear not to wake me up, but it is really scandalous, isn’t it, not to get up early on my namesake morning? And you’ve been wanting your breakfast, I know. Aren’t you nearly starved, Uncle Lemuel, honest?”

Uncle Lemuel permitted himself the luxury of a wintry smile.

“Pretty nigh,” he assented. “I hain’t had a bite to eat but half a pie, and three, four doughnuts, and two cups of coffee, and a little bread and butter. Before you get them buck-wheats going I’ll likely drop in my tracks.”

Mary giggled appreciatively.

“Poor thing!” she cried, with tender mockery. “Well, I’ll hurry. Wasn’t Mrs. Caldwell a dear to mix these for me before she went home? And weren’t she and Mrs. Waters and Miss Watkins and Miss Porter perfect angels to stay and clear up the house for us? Oatka Centre people are certainly the loveliest in the world, just as mother says. Why, Uncle, what are you doing?”

“Oh, nothing,” returned Mr. Perkins briefly; “just a-writin’ a letter.” He spoke as carelessly as if letter writing were a daily occurrence with him, instead of an event that was more nearly decennial. “You hurry with them cakes, sissy. I’m used to havin’ my breakfast some time afore sundown, though I s’pose any time will do for them that’s lived turned upside downward on Injy’s coral strand.”

This was a time-honoured joke between them by now, so Mary giggled again, meanwhile beating her batter with a skilful hand and issuing directions about the table setting.

“Let’s have it right over under the Christmas tree. I’m so glad they had to leave that! And you must put on your new cup and drink your coffee in it. See, I have my red chain on this morning. I didn’t dare to wear my be-yoo-tiful red dress, but I’m going to put it on for dinner when we go to Mrs. Caldwell’s. I’m so glad she’s going to have Miss Porter, too—and Mr. Bennett. I was afraid they didn’t have any nice place to go. And, oh, Uncle Lemuel, what’s that box you’re hiding in my chair? Another present? You dear! I’m going to open it right away!”

“You hold your horses, sissy, till you get them cakes done,” growled Uncle Lemuel.

In due time a stack of cakes that matched Uncle Lemuel’s appetite was ready, and then the box was opened and the girl “began to sing,” though “sing” is really a very polite word with which to describe the series of shrieks, squeals, and even whoops of ecstasy with which she greeted the consecutive appearance of six wonderful sets of hair ribbons.

“I shall wear them all!” she cried recklessly, and promptly proceeded to deck her neat brown braids like May poles with a series of fluttering bows—red, light blue, dark blue, yellow, white, and, at the very end, two wonderful rosettes of exquisite pink, which were rivalled in colour only by the tint of the cheeks above them.

“Oh, Uncle Lemuel!” she cried, in solemn rapture. “I feel as if I must have died and gone to heaven. I love pink so that it almost makes me ache to look at it. That’s my only objection to being an angel—always having to wear white clothes and wings. Don’t you think maybe, if I was very good, the Lord would let me have a set of pink ones for Sundays?”

But Uncle Lemuel’s theology was not prepared for such imaginative flights.

“You’d better eat your vittles, sissy,” he remarked drily. “Time enough for choosin’ your wings when you have them to wear. Coffee’s kind of tasty this mornin’,” he added craftily. “Wonder if it’s the cup?”

“Let me taste yours and see,” cried Mary, prancing eagerly around the table. “Yes, I believe it is. Oh, Uncle, see what I’ve done—got a splash of coffee on your letter! I’ll see if I can’t mop it off. Why, Uncle, it begins, ‘Niece Ellen!’ Were you writing to mother?”

Uncle Lemuel nodded.

“You see,” he explained slowly, “Ellen and me, we had some words a while back, and I thought mebbe she mightn’t feel free—that is, I thought mebbe she and Christie would feel freer to come and make their home with us for a spell if I wrote and invited ’em right away. I told ’em that the school was first-class, and that I should start you right there with Miss Porter till they come. Do you like that idee?” he ended anxiously.

Mary embraced him rapturously.

“Like it?” she cried. “Oh, Uncle Lemuel, I like it so much I can scarcely speak! I never saw anybody that did such lovely things for people all the time!” She paused a minute, and then clapped her hands. “Oh, I know what you are!” she said suddenly. “We are twins, just as I said—for I am your little Merry Christmas, and you are the great, big Happy New Year that goes with me.”

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FICTION WORTH READING

NORMAN DUNCAN

The Bird Store Man

An Old-Fashioned Story. Illustrated, 12mo, boards, net 75c.

By the sheer wizardry of his art, the author illumines a gray, shabby neighborhood with genial light, and makes of a dingy bird store a temple of high romance. What happens to Timothy Twitter, the cheery old bird dealer; to a wonderful dog Alexander; to the little girl who owns him and her veteran grandfather, is related with a whimsical tenderness few writers since Dickens have been able to employ. There is many a long chuckle awaiting the readers of THE BIRD STORE MAN, and not a few tugs at the heart.

CLARA E. LAUGHLIN

Author of “Everybody’s Lonesome”

Everybody’s Birthright

A Vision of Jeanne d’Arc. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net 75c.

“A tender, heart-reaching and heart-finding story. The aspirations of the average young girl are too little understood. Miss Laughlin not only understands them, but she provides something for them to feed on. In all, she has contrived to put a lot of thoughts on interesting problems into a story that is full of the human touches that gives life to a book. It should add another to that series of classics for girls which have made Miss Laughlin the friend of girls and parents as well.”—Norma Bright Carson.

WINIFRED ARNOLD

Author of “Mis’ Basset’s Matrimony Bureau”

Little Merry Christmas

Illustrated, 12mo, boards, net 60c.

From the moment she alights, one wintry night, at the snow-piled station of Oatka Center, little Mary Christie begins to carry sunshine and happiness into the frosty homes, and still frostier hearts of its inhabitants. How Lem Perkins, her crusty old uncle, together with the entire village, is led into the delectable kingdom of Peace and Goodwill by the guiding hand of a child, is here told in as sweet and jolly a little story as anybody has either written or read in many a long year.

NORMAN HINSDALE PITMAN

Author of “The Lady Elect,” etc.

A Chinese Christmas Tree

Illustrated by Liu Hsing-p’u. Boards, net 50c.

Here is a Christmas story that is “different”—scenes laid in China, real Chinese children romping through its chapters, and illustrated by quaint pictures drawn by a real Chinese artist. Those who gratefully remember this author’s fine story “The Lady Elect,” will not be surprised to find a vein of mellow wisdom, tempered with warm, glowing sunshine.

CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY

The Little Angel of Canyon Creek

Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

A cracking good story of the bad old days of the Western Colorado mining camps—days when a man’s chances of returning to his cabin o’nights depended very largely on the despatch with which he could bring his gun to the “draw.” Into one of these lawless camps comes little Olaf, a homeless wanderer from the East. His advent, followed by that of the Morrisons, marks a new era for Canyon Creek which ends in the “cleaning up” of the entire town. Dr. Brady gives us a captivating tale, brim-full of the vim and color incident to days and places where life was cheap, and virtue both rare and dear.

MARIETTA HOLLEY

Samantha Allen

Josiah Allen on the Woman Question

Illustrated, 16mo, cloth, net $1.00.

A new volume from the pen of Miss Holley, marked by such quaint thoughtfulness and timely reflection as ran through “Samantha.” All who read it will be bound to feel better, as indeed they should, for they will have done some hearty laughing, and have been ‘up against’ some bits of striking philosophy delivered with point, vigor, and chuckling humor. All Josiah Allen’s opinions are wittily, pithily expressed, causing the whole book to fairly bubble with homely, fun-provoking wisdom.

J. J. BELL

Author of “Wee Macgreegor,” “Oh! Christina!” etc.

The Misadventures of Joseph

12mo, cloth, net $1.00.

A characteristic story in which the author displays unusual ability to portray with quiet, humorous touch, the idiosyncrasies of Scottish life and character. Through a series of highly diverting chapters a homely yet worthy house-painter extricates himself from many a seeming dilemma, by the exercise of a kindly charity and the best attributes of a man.

THEODORA PECK

Author of “The Sword of Dundee”

White Dawn

A Legend of Ticonderoga. Illustrated, net $1.25.

A real romance, redolent of love and war. The plot, for the most part, is laid in the beautiful Champlain valley, in the days when the British were storming Ticonderoga, and the armies of Wolfe and Montcalm striving for supremacy in the northern part of the continent. Miss Peck simply packs her book with action, and depicts scene after scene which literally resound with the din of battle and the clash of arms.

S. R. CROCKETT

Author of “The Stickit Minister,” “The Raiders,” etc.

Silver Sand

A Romance of Old Galloway. Cloth, net $1.25.

“In this romance published only a few days after his death, we find Mr. Crockett in his familiar Wigtownshire, writing at his best, and giving us an even finer display of his powers than when he first captured his admirers. ‘Silver Sand’ is certainly one of the best things he ever did. Some of the characters here portrayed are among the best of his many creations, with an even added depth and tenderness.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

CAROLINE ABBOT STANLEY

Dr. Llewellyn and His Friends

Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

Mrs. Stanley’s new book is a human chronicle of absorbing interest. Humor and pathos of a rare order alternate in its pages, together with some astonishingly good delineation of negro life and character. The Kansas City Star says: “If there is to be a Missouri school of literature to rival the famed Indiana institution, Mrs. Stanley has fairly earned the right to a charter membership.”

GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ

The Man of the Desert

Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

The author of “The Best Man,” “Marcia Schuyler,” etc., enjoys no mean reputation as a weaver of sweet, wholesome romances, a reputation which “The Man of the Desert” fully maintains. Her latest book tells the love-story of a daughter of luxury and a plain man facing his duty and doing his work on the home mission field of the West. Every reader of this charming story will be made to rejoice in the happy triumph over difficulties which gives to these young people the crowning joy of life, the union of kindred souls.

THURLOW FRASER

The Call of The East

A Romance of Far Formosa. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

Here is a jewel in romance—set amid the blossom-laden islands of the Eastern seas. To its making go the record of one white man’s heroism and native worth, of another’s baseness and treachery; some thrilling incidents of the French invasion of Formosa; a satisfying picture of the great pioneer missionary Mackay, and a love-story as old as Eden, yet as fresh as the dews of the morning.

CAROLINE ABBOT STANLEY

Author of “The Master of the Oaks”

The Keeper of the Vineyard

A Tale of the Ozarks. Illustrated, $1.25 net.

“When the Revells publish a novel there can be no question as to its high moral tone. This is an unusual story, in which a young woman assumes the burden of the support of a family and succeeds in her purpose. The story takes us to the Ozarks and to the Vineyards, and charms us by the descriptions of life near the heart of nature.”—Watchman Examiner.

NORMAN HINSDALE PITMAN

The Lady Elect

A Chinese Romance. Illustrated by Chinese artists. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

“A story that depicts, in all its fascination, the old China—Something of the knowledge of what may be lies at the heart of this Chinese romance—the story of a girl who rebelled against an ‘arranged’ marriage, and of the young man she loved. A romance with all the plot, situation and charm of a modern popular love-story makes the book irresistible.”—Norma Bright Carson, Editor of Book News.

RICHARD S. HOLMES

Bradford Horton: Man

A novel. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

“This story is one of intense interest, combining sentiment, pathos, love, humor and high aims and purposes. It is not a sermon. It is just what it claims to be, “a novel.” But he who reads it will find in it an inspiration to higher living. It is fascinating in its presentation of its distinctly human characters.”—Presbyterian of the South.

MARIETTA HOLLEY

(Josiah Allen’s Wife)

Samantha on the Woman Question

Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.

“This is the book we have been waiting for. What Samantha doesn’t know, isn’t worth knowing—will throw a little humor on the situation which is becoming too intense. We hope it may have a wide circulation in England, for Samantha who believes in suffrage, does not believe in dynamite, gunpowder and mobs.”—Examiner.

CHARLES H. LERRIGO

Doc Williams

A Tale of the Middle West. Illustrated, net $1.25.

“The homely humor of the old doctor and his childlike faith in ‘the cure’ is so intensely human that he captures the sympathy of the layman at once—a sympathy that becomes the deepest sort of interest.”—Topeka Capital.