t right down now and go to work on
them, but I declare, I'm too tired. Getting ready for Christmas seems
to take all the strength I have. I think I must be getting old.

You getting old! exclaims GRANDMOTHER. Nonsense! Wait till you get
to be our age; then you might talk of getting old and feeling tired.
Isn't that so, John? John is Grandfather's first name.

Yes, GRANDFATHER answers, when you get to be as old as we are, then
you'll know what it is to be tired, Christmas or another day. I tried
to help James shut the gate this morning, where the snow had drifted
against it, and it tired me so, I haven't stirred out of this chair
since.

Now the outside door opens a second time, and the children come in
again, Gertrude first.

Isn't it time now, mother? asks GERTRUDE.

Yes, answers MOTHER, I've just finished. Take off your coats, and
try to quiet down. She puts the clean dishes away in the cupboard and
carries the dish pan away into the next room.

The children take of their coats and caps. Walter goes over by his
Grandfather and leans against his chair. Gertrude sits down on a low
stool beside her Grandmother.

What have you children been doing all the afternoon? asks
GRANDFATHER.

Oh, we've had the greatest fun, cries GERTRUDE. First we went
skating down on the mill pond.

And then we built a snow fort, WALTER chimes in, and the Indians
attacked it, and we drove them off with snow-balls.

And then we played tag out by the barn, adds GERTRUDE.

No, WALTER corrects her, that was afterwards; don't you remember,
Gertrude? Before that, we raced down to the crossroads to see if the
postman had brought any mail.

Oh, yes, GERTRUDE agrees, and you tripped and fell down in the snow
drift, and oh, grandfather, you ought to have seen him when he got up;
he was a sight. But it all brushed off.

And don't you feel tired after doing all that? GRANDMOTHER asks.

No, says GERTRUDE, I'm not a bit tired; are you, Walter?

Not a bit, says WALTER.

Well, that's the beauty of being young, GRANDMOTHER says, in a tired
sort of voice. I suppose that when I was your age, I was just the
same as you children are now.

How long is it since you were our age? WALTER asks.

So many years, says GRANDMOTHER, that I haven't time to count them
up. But I can remember it all clearly enough, even if it was so long
ago. Everything about it was very different then from the way it is
now.

How was it different, grandmother? asks GERT