seen," said Sigrid. "It ought to be just as easy to write her a letter."

"No, Sigrid," Birger told her; "it is the hardest thing in the world to
write a letter, especially if you have nothing to say. I would rather
make a box and carve it, than write half of a letter."

"Here comes Mother. She will tell us what to write," said Gerda.

"Why not write about some of the good times you have together here in
Stockholm," suggested her mother, and she took up the pen and waited for
some one to start the letter.

"Our dear Girl-friend in the North:--" said Hilma for a beginning; and as
Fru Ekman wrote at their dictation, first one and then another added a
message, until finally she leaned back in her chair and told them to
listen to what she had written.

* * * * *

"We are a club of capital boys and girls because we live in Sweden's
capital city," she began.

"That was from Oscar," interrupted Gerda; but her mother continued,--"and
we send you this box for a surprise.

"We go to school and have to study very hard; but we find a little time
for play every day. Sometimes we go to the park, but when it storms we
are glad to stay in the house and work at sewing or sloyd. So, ever since
Yule-tide, we have been making little gifts for you,--the girls with
their needles, the boys with their saws and knives.