The age-herald., 1901-12-15

It was the day before Christmas, and Mrs. Rabbit was just wondering how she could buy something to put in each of the stock ings of all the little Rabbits and also enough things at the market to furnish large din ner for the family. She sat Ut the table with pencil and paper, trying to count up just how much everything would be, and to figure how she would ever make the little money she had do for all the things she had 10 buy. Just then in came MT. Rabbit wear Ing a new fur coat and carrying a brand new cane. There, nowl It's just perfect shamel" said Mrs. Rabbit.
 "Of course 1t is," said Mir. Rabbit; "here I came home after working hard all day, expecting to find dinner all ready, and what do I see? find you figuring out more ways to spend money. I should say it was a shamei Mrs. Rabbit said she didn't mean that at all. She meant that 1t was perfect shame that she could not buy Christmas presents for all the children and a big Christmas dinner, too, while MT. Rabbit could get new fur coats and canes, as if he didn't have any family to look after Then Mir. Rabbit said that 1t was just like a woman, and that he could make the money go far enough to get everything necessary. Mrs. Rabbit said that, in that case, she would just like to see him do 1t, that was all; so he took the money and of he went.
 When he reached the market Mir. Rabbit found lot of the other animals there buy
 
 bought so much and such delicious things that he was ashamed to buy the very few things that he planned to get while they were there. Mir. Bear, MT. Dog, MT. Fox, Mir. Crow and the others acted as if they could each buy out the whole market if they wanted to, so Mir. Rabbit sneaked off to the toy stores to get the playthings for his chil- dren. Just as he had bought almost as many presents as he could afford in came Mr Bear, MT. Fox, MT. Dog and all the rest to buy playthngs for their children. They began to purchase right and left and buy the most beautiful toys, while the things MT. Rabbit had bought looked very mean beside them. Then Mir. Dog asked MT. Rab- Dit how ne expected to ever make those few toys go around among all of his children. Mir. Rabbit was so ashamed that he did not know what to do, bnt he said he was not through buying yet, and then he went ahead and spent for toys all the money he should have saved to buy the Christmas dinner. At last he did not have a cent left but he had just as many nice presents for his chi- dren as the other animals had for theirs.
 When Mrs. Rabbit found he had spent all of his money for toys and had not bought anything for the Christmas dinner she was as angry as she could possibly be, and she {; told Mir. Rabbit that he had to go right out and get something for the Christmas dinner somehow, and that was all there was about it. MT. Rabbit took his hat and went out, feeling very badly, indeed, and trying to think of some way in which he could get dinner for his family. He thought.of the fine things the other animals had bought. l and that only made him feel worse.
 As he was walking past Mir. Crows house l Mir. Rabbit saw the little crows skating on l a small pond behind the house. Suddenly l the ice broke and one of them fell into the water. The rest all shouted as loud as they l could, and MT. and Mrs. Crow ran out of the back door toward the pond just as fast as ever they could run. Mir. Rabbit opened the front door and went In the house to wait I until they came back, so he could see if they ] wanted him to go for the doctor. He saw n ], big basketful of things from the market sit 1 ting on the table. The basket was SO full { of nice things. and they all looked so good ] that MT. Rabbit felt worse than ever. He thought of all his large family at home with not a single thing for their Christmas din ner, and he felt so bad that he almost burst out crying.