"My! What does he want to do?" inquired Cousin Augusta.

"Oh, he calls it the 'White Gift Christmas'; but the long and short of
the matter is, that he proposes to 'turn down' Santa Claus, and all
the old time-honored customs connected with Christmas that are so dear
to the hearts of the children, and have the school do the giving. He
has a big banner hung up in the Sunday school room bearing the words,
'Gifts for the Christ-Child'."

"An excellent idea," exclaimed Uncle John, "but I don't see much of an
innovation about that; you have always made the children's giving a
part of your Christmas celebration, have you not?"

"Certainly!" rejoined Marcia. "They have always brought their little
gifts for the poor, and that is all right; but this time there are no
gifts to the Sunday school at all."

"Not even to the Primary School?" asked Augusta.

"Well," admitted Marcia, "Mr. Robinson gave the children their choice
today, whether they would have the old Christmas or the 'White Gift
Christmas,' and they all voted for the new idea."

"Why then should the children be obliged to have gifts, if they don't
want them?" laughed Augusta.

"Oh, children are always taken with novelty, and Mr. Robinson told it
to them in such a way that fancy was captivated; but I don't think
they really understood what they were giving up."