ever had such a nice Christmas. It was
sweet of the We Are Sevens to get me that ivory set, and to know that
every different piece was the loving thought of a different aunt or
uncle. I love the yellow monogram. It looks entirely unique, and I
like to have things that are not like anybody else's in the world,
don't you, Uncle Jimmie? I am glad you liked your cuff links. They are
'neat,' but not 'gaudy.' You play golf so well I thought a golf stick
was a nice emblem for you, and would remind you of me and last
summer.

"I am glad you think it is easier to keep your pledge now. I made a
New Year's resolution to go without chocolates, and give the money
they would cost to some good cause, but it's hard to pick out a cause,
or to decide exactly how much money you are saving. I can eat the
chocolates that are sent to me, however!!!!

"Uncle David said that he thought you were not like yourself lately,
but you seemed just the same to me Christmas, only more affectionate.
I love you very much. I was really only joking about the chocolates.
Eleanor."

* * * * *

"Dear Uncle David:

"I was glad to get your nice letter. You did not have to write in
response to my bread and butter letter, but I am glad you did. When I
am at school, and getting letters all the time I feel as if I were
living two beautiful lives all at once, the life of a 'cooperative
child' and the life of Eleanor Hamlin, schoolgirl, both together.
Letters make the people you love seem very near to you, don't you
think they do? I sleep with all my letters under my pillow whenever I
feel the least little bit homesick, and they almost seem to breathe
sometimes.

"School is the same old school. Maggie Lou had a wrist watch, too, for
Christmas, but not so pretty as the one you gave me. Miss Hadley says
I do remarkable work in English whenever I feel like it. I don't know
whether that's a compliment or not. I took Kris Kringle for the
subject of a theme the other day, and represented him as caught in an
iceberg in the grim north, and not being able to reach all the poor
little children in the tenements and hovels. The Haddock said it
showed imagination.

"There was a lecture at school on Emerson the other day. The speaker
was a noted literary lecturer from New York. He had wonderful waving
hair, more like Pader--I can't spell him, but you know who I
mean--than Uncle Jimmie's, but a little like both. He introduced some