s was decided upon; and
as it would give them so much more room, Miss Moore thought she'd like
to ask two other young women, who were studying in a business college,
and boarded in the same house with her Texas friend. Mark knew two
fellows he'd like to have, and his uncle wished to invite a young man
who had come once or twice to his Bible class, and who was a stranger in
town.

"Perhaps," said Mrs. Morrison, when they were discussing it, "we had
better limit our invitations to those who are not likely to have a merry
Christmas."

"My young man doesn't look as if he knew the meaning of merry," said Mr.
Clark.

"My girls may know its meaning, but they haven't much chance to practise
it, in the dingy boarding house," added Miss Moore.

"I am sure Mrs. Gray doesn't have any fun," said Frances, who clung to
her idea of asking the old lady.

There couldn't have been found a merrier party in the whole city than
that at work in the Spectacle Man's study on Christmas Eve. Mark had
brought in a quantity of cedar and mistletoe, and while Mrs. Morrison
and Miss Sherwin trimmed the tree, the children and Miss Moore turned
the shop into a bower of fragrant green.

Mark was full of mischief, and romped with Frances, and teased Emma
until she wished she could crawl under the bookcase as Peterkin did
under the same circumstances. The General trotted about in a gale of
delight, getting in everybody's way, and was most unwilling to leave the
scene of action when his mother came to take him to bed.

Mrs. Bond lifted her hands in dismay at so much work for nothing.

"But isn't it pretty?" asked Mrs. Morrison, from the top of the
step-ladder.

"It is pretty enough, but it all has to come down, and then what a
mess!" was the reply.

"Still, it is fun, and Christmas comes but once a year. Here, Mark, this
is to decorate the immortal George. Can you reach?" and Miss Moore held
out a beautiful branch of holly.

"You'll come to the party, won't you, Mrs. Bond?" Frances asked.

"Come? of course she will; no one in this house can be excused," said
Mr. Clark, entering the room with some interesting packages under his
arm.

The little girls were extremely curious about some work Miss Sherwin and
Mrs. Morrison had been doing, which they kept a secret from everybody,
and now the sight of a number of flat parcels in tissue paper tied with
red ribbon excited them afresh.

"Is that what you have been making?" asked Frances.

"Just p