were all dressing-gowns and slippers and shawls; and there were drawers
full of toys and games, but they were such as you could play with on
your lap. There were no ninepins, nor balls, nor bows and arrows, nor
bean bags, nor tennis rackets; but, after all, other children needed
these more than Carol Bird, for she was always happy and contented,
whatever she had or whatever she lacked; and after the room had been
made so lovely for her, on her eighth Christmas, she always called
herself, in fun, a "Bird of Paradise."

On these particular December days she was happier than usual, for Uncle
Jack was coming from England to spend the holidays. Dear, funny, jolly,
loving, wise Uncle Jack, who came every two or three years, and brought
so much joy with him that the world looked as black as a thunder-cloud
for a week after he went away again.

The mail had brought this letter:--

LONDON, NOVEMBER 28, 188-.

Wish you merry Christmas, you dearest birdlings in America! Preen
your feathers, and stretch the Birds' nest a trifle, if you please,
and let Uncle Jack in for the holidays. I am coming with such a
trunk full of treasures that you'll have to borrow the stockings of
Barnum's Giant and Giantess; I am coming to squeeze a certain
little lady-bird until she cries for mercy; I am coming to see if I
can find a boy to take care of a black pony that I bought lately.
It's the strangest thing I ever knew; I've hunted all over Europe,
and can't find a boy to suit me! I'll tell you why. I've set my
heart on finding one with a dimple in his chin, because this pony
particularly likes dimples! ["Hurrah!" cried Hugh; "bless my dear
dimple; I'll never be ashamed of it again."]

Please drop a note to the clerk of the weather, and have a good,
rousing snow-storm--say on the twenty-second. None of your meek,
gentle, nonsensical, shilly-shallying snow-storms; not the sort
where the flakes float lazily down from the sky as if they didn't
care whether they ever got here or not and then melt away as soon
as they touch the earth, but a regular business-like whizzing,
whirring, blurring, cutting snow-storm, warranted to freeze and
stay on!

I should like rather a LARGE Christmas tree, if it's convenient:
not one of those "sprigs," five or six feet high, that you used to
have three or four