find in it just what we want."

"I know what you hope will be there," cried Bob, "a new coat for Father,
and a dress for you, and some underclothes for us boys. I heard you say
so last night."

"Yes; and Quentina wants a ribbon--not dirty ones," observed Rob.

"Robert!" cried Quentina, very red of face. "You know I don't _expect_
anything of the sort."

The barrel was open now, and eagerly the family gathered around it. Even
Mrs. Jones's chair was drawn forward so that she, too, might peep into
it.

First there was a great quantity of newspapers--the people had, indeed,
found trouble to fill it, evidently. Next came a pincushion--faded pink
satin, frilled with not over-clean white lace.

"I can use the lace for a collar," cried Quentina, taking prompt
possession of the cushion. "I'm right glad of this!"

A picture came next in a tarnished gilt frame--evidently somebody's
early attempts to paint nasturtiums in oil.

"There's a rival for your posies out in the yard," murmured Tilly in
Quentina's ear.

A pair of skates was pulled out next, then three dolls, one minus an
arm.

"These might be good--on ice," remarked Paul, who had picked up the
skates.

"Do you ever have any ice to skate on, here?" asked Bertha.

"Not in the part of Texas I've ever been in," he sighed.

Mrs. Jones was ruefully smoothing the one-armed doll's flimsy dress.

"I--I _told_ them there were no little girls in the family," she said,
her worried eyes seeking her husband's face. "It--it's all right, of
course; only--only these dolls did take space."

Some magazines came next, and a few old books, upon which the boys fell
greedily--though the books they soon threw to one side as if they were
of little interest.

Undergarments appeared then, plainly much worn and patched. To Genevieve
they looked quite impossible. She almost cried when she saw how eagerly
Mrs. Jones gathered the motley pile into her arms and began to sort them
out with little exclamations of satisfaction.

Next in the barrel were found an ink-stained apron, a bath-robe, nearly
new--which plainly owed its presence to its hideous colors--two or three
tin dishes (not new), a harmonica, a box containing a straw hat trimmed
with drooping blue bows, several fans, a box of dominoes, a pocket-knife
with a broken blade, several pairs of new hose, marked plainly
"seconds," some sheets and pillow-cases (half-worn, but hailed with joy
by Mrs. Jones), a kimono, an assortment of