“Ho! ho!” he said as he saw the Maples and Birches. “What a beggarly set! Why, they have not a cloak among them to keep them warm. These will never do for me.”
But now he saw the little Fir, and a smile came over his face.
“This is the tree for me!” he cried. “Will you come with me, little Fir, and be the children’s tree, and make many hearts glad?”
“That I will!” said the little Fir gladly.
So Santa Claus took her away and dressed her in gold and silver and hung bright stars all over her; and she became the Christmas Tree, and many hearts were glad because of her.
“Hush! hush!” said the old Pine. “I knew what I knew.”
THE LEPRECHAUN
“Come tell, Uncle Shaun,” says Rafferty’s Pat,