The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-12-28
bright and pretty, You can shake the
la, 90, 81 thano

sue nhu nOtIlIH DWl an WV oI"'i "
wasn't nice, 20 | said ] would make her
one like some ! saw At my anntB last
summer. IL was Of unbleached muslin.
with two wide stripes Of bright red, and
brigbt blue ]percale across the top and the
bolfom-a little way apart, you know,
II didn't cost much, and ! had a dollar
of my own, and it was ever 81 pretty
II looked like sOme foreign cashmere
thing.
We'll, we all went 10 work with a will.
Nelly got win, her brother, 10 make a
lounge frame; Polly had a horrid old
hair.cIoth sofa. lie made it out Of some
timber they had in the yard. IL was
rough, Of course, but stout, ! tell you
and we nailed some old bagging on il for
u bottom, and made a nice soft cushion
for it, and a big pillow, and covered the
whole with pretty chintz; and Matte
made n crOChetcd tidy Tor it, that could
be wnshcd. Oh, | forgot, John Burnett
sawed out Il lovely vet Of shelves, with
Nhs new jig-aw, and Kate Woodbury.
took An old stand out Of their attic, 1t
was good and strong, but awiully old.
fashioned and 1t had two drawers and
leaves to let down. 1t was just the thing
for Polly, because she could keep the
things in the drawers, you see and her
shelves could stand on it,. And ! made
n cover to fit ii, out of Turkish toweling,
the new-fashiOned way, you know, with
gay figures sewrd on and Alice brought
a sweet little vase that she had TO hold
flowers, or ferun and grasses, in winter.
We knew Polly was very fond Of flowers,
and Nell said she had to keep them in Il
tea-cip,
Let me see, was that all? Oh, no
every girl collected all the nice books
she could. We each gave one or two Of
our own, and asked the boys that knew
Polly, and most Of our mothers gave US
one or two, 10 we had a real lovely libra
ry. remember some Of the books
"Undine," "Grim's stories CLANS An.
dcrSDn' works" Il whole set (Johnny
Burnett gave that; wasn't he ,pcndid? =
and "~Iittle Women and ave Girls, y
and--0h, lots Of others | can't remember,
only all nice ones, and in good order.
Mrs. Woodbury. put in a lovely new
Bible with clasps, and there were lots
Of poetry books she's very fond OF
poetry.
And-let me think Mattie's sister,
who's been to Europe, gave her a most
lovely Photographic three little angels, or
cherubs, or something. Oh, it was too
sweet or anything! lvc seen Polly
look at it till she cried, and | wanted
to myself, though I'm not good like
Polly.
We got a glass, and made a frame for
it. Of cardboard, with delicate lichens
| glued on. You know how ? they're real
pretty, aren't they We all went outln
the woods to get them, and we brought
home such beautiful mosses-wc tried to
think Of something to make Of them, and
atIast wedid tx sOmcOf the incest ina box,
and covered it with five pieces OF gInss
cut the right shape to make a cover
like a box, and fastened at the corners
with cOlorCd paper gummed on, We
found two ferns green yet, ~ late rs
that, and some partridgc-berry AMI
Kate put in n slip of her Wentworth
ivy, and, perhaps you won't think 50,
but it was just lovely and it grew all
winter, and | believe Polly enjoyed it
more than anything, she watched IT 50
much she bncw every leaf, she said.
We'll, | believe that was all. These
" things took ny come weeks " DO, and ",
worked hard too, | tell you. We bad
! hardly time to make our Christmas pres
rnt4 for our own folks. but | did get
time to cmbroider that cushion iOr
mamma isn't it pretty? | did every
stitch myself But where was !? Oh,
all this time the secret wac kept nicely,
though Il good many knew about il and
just before Christmas, one day Mrs.
Stevens, POIly's mother, was cutting II
dress for Mrs. Barker, and we all went
over to tell her about it. Nell Taintor
told her that we girls had a society, and
had been making sOme presents for Polly,
Well, she cried! do wonder why PEG.
pie cry when they're glad. She said she
had been trying to get Polly something
nice Tor Christmas, she had such n duh
life, and sh. was 50 patient, but in spite
oi,all she could do, everything she could
earn was used up in doctors bills and
rent. She said she meant to make her u
cake, at least, and Nell said, right off,
that she cosld come into their house to
make it, 10 that Polly shouldn't know.
We talked the thing over, and we de-
cidcd that Mrs. Stevens -hOuld get Polly |
10 bed early on Christmas Eve. There
was a hall between the %sitting-room and
bed room, and she thought Polly
wouldn't hear IA, and we were to go
about eight o'clock to fix it all up for
her, and then all meet there the next
morning to zee her surprise. All that
day, Mrs. Stevens told us aiterwarl,
Polly was very lOw-spirited, though she
tried 10 b" ch""rfnI, poor thing. She
was a good girl, always but she rcmem.
bored that our school was getting ready
for a festival and a Christmas tree, and
she couldn't help thinking of last year,
suppose, when she was there, and had
presents with the rest of us.
She did have Il present on the tree,
too, rs we'll as the rest of us; and we
took IT with us when We went that night.
1t was a real nice work box. with every
thing IN 1t complete. Miss Murton
made it. Polly was her pet scholar.
Well, we could hardly wait for eight
O'Clock, AZ you may imagine, and before
the clock was done striking we were
there. Polly was abed and asleep, Mrs.
Stevens said, and we went right to work.
The boys brought in the lounge, and put
1t in a pleasant corner of the room, and
We girls fixed it up with its new quilt
and nice big pillow; and we laid the
rug down in front of it, and hung the
over the window, and put the
b)Okshelves at the head where she could
reach it. And we put the moss thing
IN 1t, and the vase filled with grasses,
aud ferns, and bitter-sweet on top of
all. Then we filed the shelves with
and hung the picture where she
could see it without moving. And
then wo trimmed the whole room with
evergreens left from decorating our
Over the door We put "Merry
'h riat pNaa " "a, o. H.