Newspaper Page Text
26 T1
The Family
THE BIRTHDAY BOX.
A committee of ladies from the First
Avenue church had met in Mrs. Haskell's
pleasant dining room to pack a barrel of
clothing to be sent to a home missionary's
family in a small mining camp
in Southern Idaho. The age and measurements
of each member of the household,
as well as their needs and desires,
had been given them, and garments prepared
accordingly. The table and chairs
were littered with articles of clothing and
neatly tied packages. A good winter suit
for the minister, with mufller and rubber
boots, had already been put into the
barrel; there was the material for a serviceable
dress lor his wife, and for hi3
little girl, a pretty plaid suit, a hat. and
a squirrel's fur muff and boa. which soni"
other child had out-grown.
There were sheets and pillow cases,
luncia, iuus oi warm naunei, sioctcings,
gloves, and underwear of various sizes,
packages of sugar, lea and coffee, stationery,
postage stamps and all the
things that usually go into such barrels.
To be sure, there were some secondhand
articles which were examined with
critical eyes, but finally put in, for fear
that the feelings of the donors would
otherwise be hurt
On the whole, it was a valuable barrel,
aud the ladies felt well satisfied with
their work.
Just as the iast artifcle was being put
into place, and 1 he little group were
donning their wraps, preparatory to going
out ?dto tbe early November dusk, a lady
with "her little daughter entered. After
explaining why she was so late, she made
some inquiries about the family to whom'
the barrel was to be sent.
"There are the father and mother," replied
the minister's wife, "a baby boy
and a little girl named Susie, who will
be nine years old on the 10th of December."
The little girl who had come with her
mother looked exceedingly interested.
"Why, mamma," she said, in a low whisper,
"you know that is my birthday, too,
and I shall be nine years old."
The ladies smiled at the strange coIncidence,
and then after a few more last
words, all went home.
But the thought of the little Western
girl, whose age was exactly the same as
her own, did not leave the mind of Kitty
Davenport. As she thought of her own
approaching birthday, when she knew
that she should have many nice gifts,
she wished she could send something to
the little girl, who, perhaps, would have
nothing.
At recess, the next day, she talked the
matter over with her dearest friend,
Louie Camp, and was delighted to see
that Louie was quite enthusiastic about
it. Then Margaret Murray was consulted,
and she suggested that it would
be a fine plan for a few of the little
girls to send a box all by themselves.
sne would put 111 some lovely paper dolls,
and make the nicest kind of candy, and
very likely do something else. Two or
three others knew they could make donations
of some sort, and the idea of a missionary
birthday box spread like wildfire
among the little girls who belonged
to Kitty Davenport's particular set.
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3E PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU'
Kitty rushed home that afternoon,
eager to enlist her mother in her project.
and was disappointed at finding a
caller in the parlor; but she was so interested
in the subject that she could not
wait until Mrs. Manning took her leave,
before telling her story. And she was
gratified beyond measure, when the old
lady took a silver dollar out of her oldfashioned
beaded bag and said, "Here,
Kitty, take this, and buy the prettiest
doll you can find, and my daughter, Augusta,
shall dress it for you." From that
moment the success of the box was assured.
Before the next evening Miss
Augusta was dressing a beautiful doll
in the latest style, and her friend, Mis*
Frances, who came iu while she was at
work, declared that she would give a
little set of blue and gold china dishes
which she had kept ever since she was a
child, "it would be much better," she
said, "that they should give pleasure to
that little missionary girl, than to stand
unused any longer on the top shelf of
our china closet."
And becoming more interested, she
bought a dark-haired doll and dressed
it as a little Red Riding Hood. Another
voting lady, who said little girls never
had ?oo many dolls, bought one which
was a perfect blonde, and made for it a
dark-blue cloth suit, and a muff and boa,
out of bits of sable fur.
The twins, Daisy and Dora Glenn,
emptied their savings banks and purchased
a toy cooking stove, about ten
inches square, on which real dolls' cooking
could be done, and some little granite
pans and kettles.
And Mabel brought the most cunning
little rolling pin, and coffee mill, and ttoui
sifter.
Another little girl gave a doll's bedstead,
with sheets and pillows and a silk
quilt, which she said her own dolls had
out-grown.
Minnie Avery brought a funny Japanese
baby, and her cousin, Helen, a
woolly-haired darky doll. Others con
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> . .umtu uuuna uuu iiituires, ana one cnua
gave n silver thimble, saying "it had
grown too small for her."
One mother put in a box of chocolate
creams and a package of confectioner's
sugar with directions for making candy.
There were handkerchiefs and ribbons,
and a crimson Tarn O'Shanter cap, and
all the cracks and corners of the box
were filled with nuts and oranges, candy
and little animal crackers.
Mrs. Davenport's house, where all the
articles were brought, looked quite like
a toy shop. And when Mrs. Thomas,
with tears in her eyes, came in, with a
Noah's ark which had been given to her
Reggie, only a week before he went to
live in heaven, it was seen that a larger
box than the one selected would have to
be provided.
Some of the mothers, who were glad
to have their children Interested In doing
for others, saw that everything was
properly packed, and one of the fathers
offered to pay the freight bill. Never
was a box started on a long journey
which represented more kindliness and
good will than the one which was sent
to Susie Keith, to be opened on her ninth
birthday.
On the afternoon of the ninth of December,
as the minister was passing the
express office of the little Idaho town,
the agent informed him that a box had
rH. February 17, 1909.
been waiting for him for a day or two.
.Much surprised, lie entered and found the
box. bearing not only his own name, but
a statement 011 a card attached, saying
that ii was a birthday gift for his little
daughter. Borrowing a hand cart, he
brought it home, and stored it in a shod
belonging to the two-roomed parsor'vgo,
ready to be opened on the morrow.
After breakfast the next day, it was
brought into the living room, the nails
carefully drawn out of the cover, and
Susie was bidden to see what kind but
unknown friends had sent her.
The beautiful doll which .Miss Augusta
had dressed in white with rose-colored
ribbons, was near the top. while a velvet
hat. which matched the ribbons, with
white plumes, lay beside her. So dazed
was Susie by the sight that it was some
time before she tried to look 'urther
Then the other dells looked up with
smiling faces, and the little china tea set
next appeared, with not a piece broken.
The books, bedstead, and Noah's ark
were laken out by small hands that trembled
with excitement. At the bottom
stood the little stove, and beneath everything
else was a letter from Kitty telling
of her own birthday, and how she and
her young friends had with great pleasure
prepared these gifts for her. They
all wished her a pleasant birthday witn
many happy returns, and sent some of
their photographs, that she might feel a
Utile OfniminloJ
It would be hard to say which were
more overcome by this delightful surprise,
Susie or her parents. They all
lnughed and cried together, and the baby
brother, seeing that something unusual
was going on, began to weep and wail,
and could only be pacified by having a
stick of white candy put into his hand.
But Susie did not want to enjoy her
beautiful presents alone, and so, after
dinner, her father went down to the
camp and brought home five or six of
the miners' children, who had never seen
so many toys before. And such a delightful
afternoon as they had! The
dolls were dressed and undressed over
and over again, and nut to sipon in
little bed.' The animals in the ark formed
processions across the floor, and, best o*
all, a fire was made in the little stove,
with bits of wood and coal, and tiny
cakes, about as large as a nickel, were
actually baked and eaten; and real tea
was made and drunk from Miss Frances'
cherished cups. How delicious seemed
the oranges and white grapes to children
who had rarely seen such fruit, before!
When they were all gone,- and evening
came on, Susie laid her tired head
upon her mother's knee, and said it had
been the very pleasantest day of ' her
whole life. She had not noticed that the
thermometer had fallen to zero, and that
a rough cold wind had been hlowinc all
day. Love and Christian kindness had
made the atmosphere of the humble home
as warm and pleasant as a summer's
day. .
Before Susie went to bed she placed
all the photographs in a row on a shelf
beside her cot, and the largest doll, which
she had Instantly named Kitty Davenport,
on-a chair within reach of her Jiand,
together with the little stove, where she
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vuu.u IWUV.U kuoui iu lue uisui, una "?e ,
sure that It was not all a dream.
And while the good barrel which had
reaclved them a week before was fully