grinning, not wickedly but cheerfully. He winked at Jehosophat, just
like the Ole Man in the Moon, whom he strangely resembled--as much as
to say:

"We'll have a good time yet in spite of that bottle."

After all, he wasn't an enemy of the children, who would cut holes in
their heads and scoop out their insides--he was their _friend_,
was Ole Man Pumpkin, and Jehosophat felt much relieved at that.




XII

THE NORWAY SPRUCE


The Three Happy Children were looking at the calendar. It was a large
one which had been given to Father by Silas Drown who kept the
Hardware Store. On it was a picture of a meadow, with a green brook
running through it; and people were haying in the meadow. It was
undoubtedly a beautiful picture, but the children weren't interested
in it at all. They were gazing at the numbers underneath.

Now one would suppose that nothing could be quite so dull as figures,
or so uninteresting. But these told a very fascinating story. There
were thirty-one of them, all in little black squares like those that
make up a checkerboard. Thirty of the numbers were black like the
squares, but one was red, bright red. And there lies the story. You