Christmas Eve, and reach from the floor to the ceiling, to be adorned
with lighted candles, golden apples, and toys. I shall sit by the
fireplace, and bring a story-book out of my pocket, and read aloud to
all the little children. Then the toys on the tree will become alive,
and the little waxen Angel at the top will spread out his wings of gold
leaf, and fly down from his green perch. He will kiss every child in
the room, yes, and all the little children who stand out in the street
singing a carol about the 'Star of Bethlehem.'"

"Well, now the coach may drive away," said the sentry; "we will keep all
the twelve months here with us."

"First let the twelve come to me," said the Captain on duty, "one after
another. The passports I will keep here, each of them for one month.
When that has passed, I shall write the behavior of each stranger on his
passport. MR. JANUARY, have the goodness to come here."

And MR. JANUARY stepped forward.

When a year has passed, I think I shall be able to tell you what the
twelve passengers have brought to you, to me, and to all of us. Just
now I do not know, and probably even they do not know themselves, for we
live in strange times.

LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY

(FEBRUARY 12)

HE RESCUES THE BIRDS

BY NOAH BROOKS (ADAPTED)

Once, while riding through the country with some other lawyers, Lincoln
was missed from the party, and was seen loitering near a thicket of wild
plum trees where the men had stopped a short time before to water their
horses.

"Where is Lincoln?" asked one of the lawyers.

"When I saw him last," answered another, "he had caught two young birds
that the wind had blown out of their nest, and was hunting for the nest
to put them back again."

As Lincoln joined them, the lawyers rallied him on his
tender-heartedness, and he said:--

"I could not have slept unless I had restored those little birds to
their mother."

LINCOLN AND THE LITTLE GIRL

BY CHARLES W. MOORES

In the old days, when Lincoln was one of the leading lawyers of the
State, he noticed a little girl of ten who stood beside a trunk in front
of her home crying bitterly. He stopped to learn what was wrong, and was
told that she was about to miss a long-promised visit to Decatur because
the wagon had not come for her.

"You needn't let that trouble you," was his cheering reply. "Just come
along with me and we shall make it all right."

Lifting the trunk upon his shoulder, and taki