nd cheer,
as children's voices always are. Fuller and fuller grew the burst of
melody as one glad strain fell upon another in joyful harmony:

"Carol, brothers, carol,
Carol joyfully,
Carol the good tidings,
Carol merrily!
And pray a gladsome Christmas
For all your fellow-men;
Carol, brothers, carol,
Christmas Day again."

One verse followed another always with the same glad refrain:

"And pray a gladsome Christmas
For all your fellow-men:
Carol, brothers, carol,
Christmas Day again."

Mrs. Bird thought, as the music floated in upon her gentle sleep, that
she had slipped into heaven with her new baby, and that the angels were
bidding them welcome. But the tiny bundle by her side stirred a
little, and though it was scarcely more than the ruffling of a feather,
she awoke; for the mother-ear is so close to the heart that it can hear
the faintest whisper of a child.

She opened her eyes and drew the baby closer. It looked like a rose
dipped in milk, she thought, this pink and white blossom of girlhood,
or like a pink cherub, with its halo of pale yellow hair, finer than
floss silk.

"Carol, brothers, carol,
Carol joyfully,
Carol the good tidings,
Carol merrily!"

The voices were brimming over with joy.

"Why, my baby," whispered Mrs. Bird in soft surprise, "I had forgotten
what day it was. You are a little Christmas child, and we will name
you 'Carol'--mother's little Christmas Carol!"

"What!" said Mr. Bird, coming in softly and closing the door behind him.

"Why, Donald, don't you think 'Carol' is a sweet name for a Christmas
baby? It came to me just a moment ago in the singing as I was lying
here half asleep and half awake."

"I think it is a charming name, dear heart, and that it sounds just
like you, and I hope that, being a girl, this baby has some chance of
being as lovely as her mother," at which speech from the baby's papa,
Mrs. Bird, though she was as weak and tired as she could be, blushed
with happiness.

And so Carol came by her name.

Of course, it was thought foolish by many people, though Uncle Jack
declared laughingly that it was very strange if a whole family of Birds
could not be indulged in a single Carol; and Grandma, who adored the
child, thought the name much more appropriate than