The voices were brimming over with joy.

"Why, my baby," whispered Mrs. Bird in soft surprise, "I had
forgotten what day it was. You are a little Christmas child, and
we will name you 'Carol'--mother's little Christmas Carol!"

"What!" said Mr. Bird, coming in softly and closing
the door behind him.

"Why, Donald, don't you think 'Carol' is a sweet name for a
Christmas baby? It came to me just a moment ago in the singing
as I was lying here half asleep and half awake."

"I think it is a charming name, dear heart, and that it sounds
just like you, and I hope that, being a girl, this baby has some
chance of being as lovely as her mother," at which speech from
the baby's papa, Mrs. Bird, though she was as weak and tired as
she could be, blushed with happiness.

And so Carol came by her name.

Of course, it was thought foolish by many people, though Uncle
Jack declared laughingly that it was very strange if a whole
family of Birds could not be indulged in a single Carol; and
Grandma, who adored the child, thought the name much more
appropriate than Lucy, but was glad that people would probably
think it short for Caroline.

Perhaps because she was born in holiday time, Carol was a very