“Well,” answered Mary Elizabeth, thoughtfully. “We have the ornaments, though I usually buy some new ones. I would have to get candles. The tree would not cost so very much, only it seems as if every penny ought to go to the little French and Belgian children—and there are the soldiers to send things to—and when everything is the way it is, why it really hardly seems like Christmas!”
“I know,” returned Mother. “But we sent all the money in the children’s bank and all your money and my money, Mary Elizabeth. We have the soldiers’ things all done—almost. I think we ought to have the tree for the children and you can fix it up somehow, can’t you?”
“Yes,” smiled Mary Elizabeth, but she was thinking that she must somehow find a way to make that tree as pretty as usual—even without any money to buy things!
That day and the next, Mary Elizabeth pondered the question. She thought of this and of that but nothing seemed quite right. There was no way to earn any money. And the tree had no star for the top. It had been lost, somehow. It was not with the tree fixings in the box in the attic! How to get a new star, that was one question. How to get the candles was another. And Mary Elizabeth’s tree had always been a tree that people came in to look at and admire. It was not like any other tree. It was always a surprise, somehow. Money was needed to buy things to make it wonderful. Money was needed to make it a bright surprise as usual!
At school, Mary Elizabeth found herself puzzling over this problem as vacation time drew near. It was harder for her than any arithmetic problem, for it could not be solved at all. Twice she saved five cents by walking home and that bought candles. But the problem remained as usual. It was how to get more money.
Then there came the day when the magazine came. It was always something of an event when the magazine came. It had new pictures in it and often it had cut-out pages for the little children. Once there had been a circus with clowns to cut out and ever since that time, Brother somehow got hold of the paper as soon as Mother took it from its wrapper. He was always hoping for more circus, you know. He knew its pages by heart and spelled out the titles and headings of the pictures. When Mary Elizabeth came home one day, he announced that the magazine had come.
“What’s in it?” questioned Mary Elizabeth.
“Pictures,” Brother replied mysteriously, “but not any of a circus. It’s a puzzle page. You have to guess what the pictures are and they’ll give a prize of five dollars to the one who answers and tells what the pictures are.” But Brother was still busy with the magazine and Mary Elizabeth was called away to help Mother with the little sister. She did not see the page, though she thought about it and wondered if she could answer all the questions and get the money that way to trim the Christmas tree. In the evening, after supper, after the little children had gone off to bed and Brother, too, with them, she found the magazine and looked it over. Yes, it was a contest. And the pictures were Mother Goose. It seemed easy to guess them—Mary Elizabeth guessed Simple Simon right away. It was the picture of a funny doll fishing in a little pail with a hook and line. She tried the others. She was not so sure of all but she guessed them with the help of the little children’s Mother Goose to refresh her memory. She was so excited that she felt the prize was already hers. She was sure she must win!
Just think of it: the first prize was five whole dollars and the second prize was two whole dollars and there were eight other prizes each of one whole big dollar—ten chances that Mary Elizabeth might earn some money for her Christmas tree! Her hands shook as she took up pen and put it to paper. She used her very best paper and three times or more she discarded what she had written and tried to do better. She wrote with extreme pains and slowly. It took all the evening just to write the short answer. She put it into its envelope to mail on the way to school next day, but she said nothing about it as she kissed Mother good-night.
Nearer and nearer came Christmas time. The little children talked more than ever about Santa Claus. Brother planned what kind of a stocking he would hang up. They talked about the tree and asked Mary Elizabeth what she supposed Santa Claus would make as a tree surprise this year. At these times, laughingly, Mary Elizabeth suggested that there would be candles on the tree and that perhaps there would be tinsel. She said that, maybe, Santa Claus would send all his Christmas to the little French and Belgian children and not have much to make into a surprise here at home. She told them stories about Santa Claus and the Santa Claus Land. She played with them to keep them amused but she thought all the time of the Mother Goose Contest and as time went on, she felt less sure each day of having won. Once she passed by the ten cent store and found a beautiful gold star and wanted to buy it. Then one day Mary Elizabeth actually found a ten cent piece near a shop upon a busy sidewalk in town. Her heart went thump at the sight of it. She asked several persons if they had lost anything and they replied, “No.” So Mary Elizabeth went straight to the ten cent store and bought a star, right away.