after the holidays."

He settled himself to his papers, for philanthropists must toil even
on the twenty-fourth of December, but the secretary shook his head in a
daze. "I wonder what's happened?" he said to himself.

XXV. THE FIRST CHRISTMAS-TREE

BY LUCY WHEELOCK

Two little children were sitting by the fire one cold winter's night.
All at once they heard a timid knock at the door and one ran to open it.

There, outside in the cold and darkness, stood a child with no shoes
upon his feet and clad in thin, ragged garments. He was shivering with
cold, and he asked to come in and warm himself.

"Yes, come in," cried both the children. "You shall have our place by
the fire. Come in."

They drew the little stranger to their warm seat and shared their supper
with him, and gave him their bed, while they slept on a hard bench.

In the night they were awakened by strains of sweet music, and looking
out, they saw a band of children in shining garments, approaching the
house. They were playing on golden harps and the air was full of melody.

Suddenly the Strange Child stood before them: no longer cold and ragged,
but clad in silvery light.

His soft voice said: "I was cold and you took Me in. I was hungry and
you fed Me. I was tired and you gave Me your bed. I am the Christ-Child,
wandering through the world to bring peace and happiness to all good
children. As you have given to Me, so may this tree every year give rich
fruit to you."

So saying, He broke a branch from the fir-tree that grew near the door,
and He planted it in the ground and disappeared. And the branch grew
into a great tree, and every year it bore wonderful fruit for the kind
children.

XXVI. THE FIRST NEW ENGLAND CHRISTMAS*

From Stone and Fickett's "Every Day Life in the Colonies;" copyrighted
1905, by D. C. Heath & Co. Used by permission.

G. L. STONE AND M. G. FICKETT

It was a warm and pleasant Saturday--that twenty-third of December,
1620. The winter wind had blown itself away in the storm of the day
before, and the air was clear and balmy. The people on board the
Mayflower were glad of the pleasant day. It was three long months since
they had started from Plymouth, in England, to seek a home across the
ocean. Now they had come into a harbour that they named New Plymouth, in
the country of New England.

Other people called these voyagers Pilgrims, which means wanderers. A
long while before, the Pilgrims had lived in England;