The children were sitting before a large open fire. It was two days before Christmas, and Dorothy was on a visit to cousin Ray.
The screen girl had been listening to them, and after a few minutes she whispered softly:—“Stand close together, children, then draw the screen around you and I’ll take you far away, where you will see wonderful sights.”
Ray drew the screen around himself and Dorothy, and in a few seconds they were moving softly somewhere, but of course as the screen was around them they could not see where they were going.
After a long time they stopped moving, the screen opened and the children looked about them. They were in a beautiful country. The ground was covered with snow that gleamed and glistened like diamonds, while all the trees looked just like Christmas trees.
“Put on these jackets,” said the screen girl, “so you won’t catch cold,” and she wrapped them up in white woolly suits that covered them from head to foot. “Now, children, you can take a walk in Santa Claus land,” and they started off, hand in hand, to see the sights.
The first thing they came to was a lake all frozen over, and the ice was a pale yellow color. “O see,” said Ray, stooping down to find two little pairs of skates right on the edge of the lake.
“Let’s put ’em on,” said Dorothy, “and skate around.”
The children put on the skates, and never before did they have such glorious skating.
“It’s as smooth as glass,” said Ray; “you can just fly over it.”
Just as he said the words Dorothy fell. It did not hurt her, as it was only a jolly tumble, but it broke a little piece of the ice.