"All right, mother; I'll be off as early as you please. Why, it will be Christmas Eve! What shall we do to keep Christmas this year?"
"I don't know, my boy. We must be content with such things as we have, and make the best of them. The Lord never forgets us."
"Mother, the grand rich people do something on Christmas Eve to keep it, don't they?"
"Oh yes; when I lived at Oaklands long ago, as nurse, we had fine doings there. There was always a Christmas tree, and all sorts of games and fun; but that is only for rich people, Robin."
"Yes, I suppose so, mother; but how I wish Corrie could see something like that; I should like her to have a Christmas tree of her own. And why not?" he added, at seeing his mother shake her head.
He ran off to do a household errand in an adjoining street. "I must think of something to make this Christmas a very happy one for poor little Corrie, because she has so few things to make her glad!"
And Robin gave sundry leaps in the air as scheme after scheme presented itself, for he felt quite sure he could manage something for her.
Corrie! It was always Corrie in Robin's heart; and if he could only succeed now and then in letting bright glints of sunshine into that little shaded life, there was not a happier boy in the town. Ah! Yes, because he possessed the secret of true happiness, which consists in finding no time to think about self. Only those know this secret who, by the Holy Spirit, have been led to give their hearts to Jesus. He then teaches them to be like Him, when He walked about as the tender gentle Healer and Helper on this sorrow-laden earth. Robin prayed to Him every day to teach him to do His will; and Jesus will help you too, my readers, if you ask Him.
[CHAPTER II]
A WALK IN THE WOOD