, so in a couple
of hours we were home.

Gavotte knew the two loggers were in Green River and were then at work
storing ice for the railroad, but he had not known that their wives
were left as they were. The men actually had got drunk, lost their
money, and were then trying to replace it. After we debated a bit we
decided we could not enjoy Christmas with those people in want up
there in the cold. Then we got busy. It is sixty miles to town,
although our nearest point to the railroad is but forty, so you see it
was impossible to get to town to get anything. You should have seen us!
Every old garment that had ever been left by men who have worked here
was hauled out, and Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's deft fingers soon had a pile
of garments cut. We kept the machine humming until far into the night,
as long as we could keep our eyes open.

All next day we sewed as hard as we could, and Gavotte cooked as hard
as he could. We had intended to have a tree for Jerrine, so we had a
box of candles and a box of Christmas snow. Gavotte asked for all the
bright paper we could find. We had lots of it, and I think you would be
surprised at the possibilities of a little waste paper. He made
gorgeous birds, butterflies, and flowers out of paper that once wrapped
parcels. Then he asked us for some silk thread, but I had none, so he
told us to comb our hair and give him the combings. We did, and with a
drop of mucilage he would fasten a hair to a bird's back and then hold
it up by the hair. At a few feet's distance it looked exactly as though
the bird was flying. I was glad I had a big stone jar full of
_fondant_, because we had a lot of fun shaping and coloring candies. We
offered a prize for the best representation of a "nigger," and we had
two dozen chocolate-covered things that might have been anything from a
monkey to a mouse. Mrs. Louderer cut up her big plum pudding and put it
into a dozen small bags. These Gavotte carefully covered with green
paper. Then we tore up the holly wreath that Aunt Mary sent me, and put
a sprig in the top of each green bag of pudding. I never had so much
fun in my life as I had preparing for that Christmas.

At ten o'clock, the morning of the 24th, we were again on our way up
the mountain-side. We took shovels so we could clear a road if need
be. We had dinner at the old camp, and then Gavotte hunted us a way out
to the new, and we smuggled our things into Molly's cabin so the
children should have a real surp