uds is going back, and you can use
them or throw them away; put them in a rag-bag if you want to; I've
nothing more to do with them."

Then Sue and Dorothy understood what the extravagance meant, but
Marion did not; she only stood still, staring at Gladys, wondering
what she could have said or done to vex her kind-hearted room-mate.
And it was not until hours afterward, when she was alone with Dorothy,
and Dorothy told her they were gifts to her, that she knew how rich in
Christmas treasures she had suddenly become.

And here it is pleasant to tell, that this was only one of Gladys's
thoughtful kindnesses. Little bundles of similar gifts were constantly
going from her to the doors of the girls whose small means made
Christmas presents luxuries in which they could not indulge. Even
Gladys's liberal father wondered often over the amount of money which
she wished for these holidays; but he trusted her, and in truth felt
proud and glad that this only child had a noble, generous nature,
which could, and did, think of others more than of herself; for in the
account which she always sent him of the expenditure of these moneys,
while there were many "give aways," there were few dollars spent on
herself.

One day, in the regular mail-bag, there came this note to Miss
Ashton:--

We, the undersigned, grateful for the undeserved kindnesses with
which you have made our repentant days so happy, request the
pleasure of your company in the parlor, Tuesday evening,
December 22.

JENNY BARTON, SOPHY KANE,
KATE UNDERWOOD, MAMIE SMYTHE,
LUCY SNOW, LILLY WHITE,
MARTHA DODD,

_and all the members of the "Never Say Die Club."_

"What are those girls up to now?" Miss Ashton said with a pleasant
laugh, as she read the invitation, but she accepted it without any
delay, and when she was told by Miss Newton, the confidential helper
of the whole school in any of their wants, that the parlor had been
lent to the secret society for the evening, and no teacher was to be
allowed entrance until eight o'clock, she smilingly acquiesced.

The club were excused from their recitations that afternoon, and it
was amusing to see how much spying there was among the rest of the
school to find out what was going on. All that could be seen, however,
was the coming in of a big boxed article, unfortunately for the
curious, so boxed that no one could even guess what it contained.

A general invitation had been give