The Christmas Tree and Other Christmas Tales. Sarah P. Doughty

we are all ready. Let us go down at once. I have no doubt that a part of the company have arrived.”

      But the parlors were still empty. Even Aunt Clara had not yet appeared, and after surveying themselves with much satisfaction in the large mirror, and impatiently walking up and down the room for a short time, the girls resolved to seek her, and inquire if the appointed dinner hour had not nearly arrived. To their surprise, they found the table already loaded with the smoking plum puddings, and nicely roasted turkeys and chickens, which Uncle John and Aunt Clara were carrying with all possible despatch.

      “But no one has come yet, Uncle John,” exclaimed both Lucy and Mary in a breath. “Will not the dinner be cold?”

      “Our friends have all arrived,” was their uncle’s quiet reply; and as he spoke, the door leading from the great kitchen was thrown open, and a crowd of persons, young and old, appeared.

      There was the honest laborer, who had toiled hard through the year for the support of his large family. There, too, was the cheerful wife and the joyful little ones, and, perhaps, the aged grand-parents, whose feeble steps were supported by their children, as they took their seats at the bountifully spread table. In short, most of the worthy poor in the immediate vicinity of the farm were there assembled, and some few from a greater distance.

      Mary and Lucy had not time to recover from their surprise, before all the guests were seated at the table, and Uncle John, rising from his chair, bade them all a kindly welcome, and after explaining in a few words the origin of Thanksgiving Day, asked them all to unite with him in a prayer of thankfulness to the Lord, from whom every mercy is received.

      Each guest was then plentifully supplied with the good things upon the table, and Aunt Clara requested her nieces to attend particularly to the little children, and see that all their wants were cared for.

      A happier party was seldom seen. After dinner, presents of food and clothing were distributed among them, and Mary and Lucy found great satisfaction in dressing the children in new clothes, and seeing the gratitude and joy in their smiling little faces.

      After an hour or two spent in this manner, the great sleigh and the gray horses came merrily jingling to the door, and the old people and the children were safely conveyed to their homes, and the rest of the party, with many thanks and blessings to their kind entertainers, took their leave.

      “Well, girls, how did you enjoy my party?” exclaimed Uncle John, as he reëntered the parlor, after bidding farewell to the last of his guests.

      “O, very much indeed,” was the reply. “It was very different from what we expected, but still we enjoyed it very much. It is so pleasant to make others happy.”

      “It is, indeed, my children,” returned Uncle John, “and it appears to me that on a day like this, it is the duty of all those whom the Lord has blessed with abundance, to seek out the needy and afflicted, and endeavor to relieve their wants.”

      When the harvest is gathered in, and the farmer beholds his table loaded with the rich fruits of the year, he should call upon the aged, the poor, and the helpless to come in with him and share his feast.