them.
But it was no small job to do this to every one's satisfaction. No
matter what happened to any one else, Candace had to be pleased: for
did not she so manage that most fowls served on mother's table went
gizzardless to the carving? She knew and acknowledged the great
importance of trying cookies, pies, and cake while they were hot. She
was forever overworked and tired, yet she always found time to make
gingerbread women with currant buttons on their frocks, and pudgy
doughnut men with clove eyes and cigars of cinnamon. If my own
stocking lay on the hearth, Candace's had to go in a place that
satisfied her--that was one sure thing. Besides, I had to make up to
her for what Leon did, because she was crying into the corner of her
apron about that.

He slipped in and stole her stocking, hung it over the broomstick, and
marched around the breakfast table singing to the tune of--

"Ha, ha, ha, who wouldn't go--
Up on the housetop click, click, click?
Down through the chimney,
With good Saint Nick----"

words he made up himself. He walked just fast enough that she couldn't
catch him, and sang as he went:

"Ha, ha, ha, good Saint Nick,
Come and look at this stocking, quick!

If you undertake its length to fill,
You'll have to bust a ten-dollar bill.
Who does it belong to? Candace Swartz.
Bring extra candy,--seven quarts----"

She got so angry she just roared, so father made Leon stop it, but I
couldn't help laughing myself. Then we had to pet her all day, so
she'd cheer up, and not salt the Christmas dinner with her tears. I
never saw such a monkey as Leon! I trotted out to comfort her, and
snipped bites, until I wore a triangle on the carpet between the
kitchen and the mantel, the mantel and the window, and the window and
the kitchen, while every hour things grew more exciting.

There never had been such a flurry at our house since I could remember;
for to-morrow would be Christmas and bring home all the children, and a
house full of guests. My big brother, Jerry, who was a lawyer in the
city, was coming with his family, and so were Frank, Elizabeth, and
Lucy with theirs, and of course Sally and Peter--I wondered if she
would still be fixing his tie--and Shelley came yesterday, blushing
like a rose, and she laughed if you pointed your finger at her.

Something had happened to her in Chicago. I wasn't so sure as I had
been about a city being such a dreadful place of