c in color,
sneaked up to their own chamber.

The company dispersed: ladies who had expected carriages did not wait
for them, but struggled to the extreme verge of politeness for the use
of such umbrellas and waterproof-cloaks as Mrs. Burton could supply.
Fifteen minutes later the only occupant of the parlor was the dog Jerry,
who lay, with alert head, in the centre of a large "Turkish chair. Mrs.
Burton, tenderly supported by her husband, descended the stair, and
contemplated with tightly compressed lips and blazing eyes the disorder
of her desolated parlor. When, however, she reached the dining-room and
beheld the exquisitely-set lunch-table, to the arrangement of which she
had devoted hours of thought in preceding days and weeks, she burst into
a flood of tears.

"I'll tell you how it was," remarked Budge, who appeared suddenly and
without invitation, and whose consciousness of good intention made him
as adamant before the indignant frowns of his uncle and aunt, "_I_
always think bonfires is the nicest things about celebrations, an' Tod
an' me have been carryin' sticks for two days to make a big bonfire in
the back yard to-day. But then it rained, an' rainy sticks won't burn--I
_guess_ we found that out last Thanksgivin' Day. So we thought we'd make
one in the cellar, 'cause the top is all tin, an' the bottom's all dirt,
an' it can't rain in there at all. An' we got lots of newspapers and
kindlin'-wood, an' put some kerosene on it, an' it blazed up beautiful,
an' we was just comin' up to ask you all down to look at it, when in
came Uncle Harry, an' banged me against the wall an' Tod into the
coal-heap, an' threw a mean old dirty carpet on top of it, an' wet'ed it
all over."

"Little boysh never _can_ do anyfing nysh wivout bein' made to don't,"
said Toddie. "Dzust see what an awful big splinter I got in my hand when
I was froin' wood on the fire! I didn't cry a _bit_ about it then,
'cause I fought I was makin' uvver folks happy, like the Lord wants
little boysh to. But they didn't _get_ happy, so now I _am_ goin' to cry
'bout the splinter!"

And Toddie raised a howl which was as much superior to his usual cry as
things made to order generally are over the ordinary supply.

"We had a torchlight procession, too," said Budge. "We had to have it in
the attic, but it wasn't very nice. There wasn't any trees up there for
the light to dance around on, like it does on 'lection-day nights. So we
just stopped, an' would