"Now catch," said their father, as he started aside and flung a sixpence
to each.

Of course they did not catch, for little girls have a strange
propensity for turning just the wrong way on such occasions; but the
bright new sixpences were none the duller for their fall, and called
forth none the less admiration from their proud owners.

Many were the calculations which passed through those curly heads during
breakfast-time as to what a sixpence could buy; and it was with many
bright visions that they darted away to be dressed to go into the town
with their mother.

It was New-year's day; but there was no snow, no bitter cold wind, no
beggars shivering in their scanty clothing, none of the scenes of
poverty which those accustomed only to an English winter might expect to
cast a gloom over the enjoyment of the day. It was a bright sunny
morning, every leaf sparkling with dew-drops; groups of neatly-dressed
people were to be seen flocking in from the country in every direction;
and though the air was fresh enough to incline them to walk briskly
along, their hands were not hidden away in muffs and coat-pockets, but
were ready for the friendly shake which, with "all the good wishes of
the season," awaited them at every step.

Mrs. Campbell and her little girls, after many a greeting of this kind,
found their way into the town at last; and the children soon forgot
everything in the twelfth-cakes which adorned the pastry-cooks' windows,
till the sixpence, which was tightly clasped in each little hand,
recalled them to their errand, and they joined the busy crowd in the
toy-shop. Who does not know what it is to take a child into these abodes