that trembled with feeling.

The old gentleman wiped his eyes again and again. "Ah!" he said, "how
that takes me back into the past! My friend and I knew and loved that air
and hymn over sixty years ago. I can see him now as he looked then. God
bless his child, and now my child!" he added, as he drew Amy caressingly
toward him. "A brief evening has made you one of us. I thank God that he
has sent one whom it will be so easy for us all to love; and we gratefully
accept you as a Christmas gift from Heaven."

Then, with the simplicity of an ancient patriarch, he gathered his
household around the family altar, black Abram and two maids entering at
his summons, and taking seats with an air of deference near the door. Not
long afterward the old house stood silent and dark in the pallid landscape.

Though greatly wearied, Amy was kept awake during the earlier part of the
night by the novelty of her new life and relations, and she was awakened
in the late dawn of the following day by exclamations of delight from
Mrs. Leonard's room. She soon remembered that it was Christmas morning.
The children evidently had found their stockings, for she heard Johnnie
say, "Oh, mamma, do you think Aunt Amy is awake? I would so like to take
her stocking to her!"

"Yes," cried Amy, "I'm awake"; and the little girl, draped in white, soon
pushed open the door, holding her own and Amy's stockings in hands that
trembled with delightful anticipation.

"Jump into bed with me," said Amy, "and we will empty our stockings
together."