The girls pressed forward eagerly; the boys hung back, and glanced
at their father; these were women's matters.

"It's got hair!" cried Ruth, in rapture. "Mother! real hair, and it
curls; see it curl!"

"Look at its little hands!" murmured Mary. "They're like pink shells,
only soft. Oh! see it move them, Ruth!" She caught her sister's arm
in a sudden movement of delight.

"Oh, mother, mayn't we keep it?" cried both girls at once.

Mother Golden was examining the baby's clothes.

"Cambric slip, fine enough, but not so terrible fine. Flannel blanket,
machine-embroidered--stop! here's a note."

She opened a folded paper, and read a few words, written in a
carefully rough hand.

"His mother is dead, his father a waif. Ask the woman with the kind
eyes to take care of him, for Christ's sake."

"My heart!" said Mother Golden, again.

"It's a boy, then!" said Father Golden, brightening perceptibly. He
came forward, the boys edging forward too, encouraged by another
masculine presence.

"It's a boy, and a beauty!" said Mother Golden, wiping her eyes.