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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. y y 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 * ' > . .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 /tniil/1 IamaK V?~,?v'1 * * 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