rom the
playroom and played with them on the rug before the fire place. This
was the last day the Christmas tree would be left standing, Mother
Horton said, so he liked to stay near it.

"When will it be time to pass the New Year cakes?" he asked Harriet,
when she came in to bring more wood for the fire.

"This afternoon," she answered. "When the callers come."

Sunny Boy's Aunt Bessie came to dinner, which was at one o'clock as on
Sunday, and Sunny Boy was very glad to see her. She brought him a
little set of bells and showed him how he could play a tune on them by
striking them with a wooden mallet. Sunny Boy could play "Annie
Laurie" before the afternoon was over.

After dinner came visitors. They were all grown up people, and Mrs.
Horton and Aunt Bessie gave them tea to drink and sandwiches from the
tea wagon and Sunny Boy, in his best white flannel sailor suit, passed
them the plates of New Year cakes which Harriet had baked. They were
delicious little cakes with caraway seeds and pink sugar on them, and
Sunny Boy had three for himself.

It was nearly six o'clock before the "company" as Sunny Boy called
them, had gone. Then, to his surprise, his daddy came into the parlor
with his overcoat on and his hat in his hand.

"Olive," he said to Sunny Boy's mother, "I'm going over to Dover street
in the River Section for a short call. Father is going with me. We
heard this afternoon of a family who are pretty hard up."

"Is there anything I can send them?" asked Mrs. Horton. "Harriet will
heat up some soup and you can carry it in the vacuum bottle."

"Let me go with you, Daddy?" begged Sunny Boy. "I can carry some New
Year cakes."

"We are not going to take anything till we find out what is needed,"
answered Mr. Horton. "From what I've heard, I'm afraid that this
family was overlooked at Christmas. The husband is out work and there
are several children."

"Who are the children?" asked Sunny Boy, when his daddy and grandfather
had gone. "What are their names, Mother? Are there any little boys?"

"I don't know, precious," replied Mrs. Horton, "but I think likely.
Suppose you and I and Grandma go upstairs and look through the Square
Box and see if we have some clothes to send them. I am pretty sure
Daddy will come back and tell us that they need warm clothes."

Sunny Boy knew all about the Square Box. It stood in the hall closet
next to the bathroom, and in it Mrs. Horton put all his clothes tha