delightful to get them all together somewhere and surprise them with a
Christmas tree loaded with nice things! Lets do it, girls. We all have
some pocket money, and we can get our fathers and mothers to tell us how
to use it to the best advantage, and how to manage the giving."

"I haven't a bit more pocket money than I need to buy the presents I
wish to give my own particular friends," objected Sydney.

"It's nice, and right too, I think, to give tokens of love to our dear
ones," Evelyn said, "but we need not make them very expensive in order
to give pleasure;--often they would prefer some simple little thing that
is the work of our own hands--and so we would have something left for
the poor and needy, whom the Bible teaches us we should care for and
relieve to the best of our ability."

"Yes, I daresay you are right," returned Sydney, "but I sha'n't make any
rash promises in regard to the matter."




CHAPTER II.


In the parlor the older people were conversing on somewhat similar
topics: first discussing plans for the entertainment and gratification
of their children and other young relatives, during the approaching
holidays, then of the needs of the poor of the neighborhood, and how to
supply them; after that they talked of the claims of Home and Foreign
Missions; the perils threatening their country from illiteracy, anarchy,