Uncle Jo's Old Coat

by Eleanora H. Stooke

"Has he? I'm glad," she answered, "for you've turned out much better than we expected, Freddy, although you did give away father's old coat."

"Oh, by the way, have you heard that Mr. Henley is going to pay for sending Bobby Lambert to a convalescent home in the country where he will soon get well, father believes?" Edwin inquired of his uncle. "Yes, indeed, it is so. He is to go soon after Christmas."

"I LIKE LOOKING AT THE SHOPS DECORATED FOR CHRISTMAS, DON'T YOU?"

"I'm very pleased to hear it," Mr. Collins responded heartily. "Freddy must go and see him before he leaves B—, and take him a Christmas-box; and that good little sister of his who has nursed him so devotedly shall not be forgotten. We will try to give them a happy Christmas if it lies within our power to do so."

"Thank you, oh, thank you!" Freddy exclaimed gratefully, for he regarded the Lamberts in the light of especial friends of his own, and he knew his father was always as good as his word.

A cold, wintry morning, three days later, saw the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Collins and Freddy from B—. The doctor and his sons went to the station to see them off; and as the train steamed out of the platform, Freddy popped his head out of the carriage window, and shouted his last farewell.

"Good-bye, Uncle Jo! Good-bye, boys! Mind you remember your promise and write and tell me how Bobby Lambert gets on, Edwin. Good-bye!"

"How he has altered of late," Edwin remarked reflectively, as he and Claude followed their father out of the station. "I consider he's wonderfully improved. I wonder if he will really come back next term. I expect he'll want to stay at Marldon Court, once he's there again."

But Edwin was wrong, for though Freddy was blissfully content to be at home once more, and spent a very happy Christmas with his father and step-mother, he missed the society of his cousins, and often felt dull without them. He was surprised himself that he was able to contemplate his return to B— with perfect equanimity. It was not that he loved his father less than he had previously done, or that he no longer appreciated the beautiful hills and dales surrounding his home, but that his views of life had widened, and he had found new interests. He enjoyed a ride on his pony across country as much as he ever had; but his three months' sojourn beneath his uncle's roof had changed him greatly for the better. He was no longer always thinking of himself, and planning for his own enjoyment; he was more considerate for others, and, in short, Master Frederick had fallen in his own estimation, and was a much nicer boy on that account.