“I guess I know now who your poor folks will be this year. They haven’t a cent to their name, nor a shirt to their backs,” laughed Bobby, “but why the tree?”
Such a busy morning as the twins had after that! Bob set up the tree in the middle of the big barn. Betty made little bundles that were as mysterious as any Christmas package you ever saw. Then she hung them on the tree; a package of meat cut fine for Buddy, marked with his name in big letters; seven catnip mice hung by their string tails for the seven cats on the farm; four carrots tied in a bunch of hay for Mollie; four apples tied in hay for Duke, the old gray horse; lumps of sugar in little bundles for Buddy and Duke and Mollie.
Then Betty was puzzled. She ran to Uncle Ben. “What does a cow like best?” she asked.
“Well, my cows like cornstalks. There is a pile back of the old barn.”
So there were bundles of cornstalks at the base of the tree. Betty tied them in loose bunches for the cows. On the floor, too, stood a big bag of corn for the hens.
After dinner the fun began. Everyone put on a sweater and went to the barn, Buddy at Betty’s heels proud of his new bow. Not all the cats could be found, but five of them came in answer to Aunt Martha’s call. Buddy took his meat and without a single “thank you” ran to an empty stall to eat it. The horses nodded “thank you” as they ate the sugar and the carrots and the apples that the children held out to them. Cats and kittens played with their catnip mice and lapped up saucers of milk. Mother Bunch slapped the gray kitten because he tried to steal her catnip mouse. The cows crunched their cornstalks and looked with mild surprise at the queer antics of the kittens. Bob carried the heavy pail of corn out to the hen yard and Betty fed the chickens which crowded to her feet.
When the children went back to the barn with the empty pail, they themselves had a surprise. A wild gray squirrel had stolen in at the open door, and was sitting up on his hind legs under the Christmas tree, eating the corn that had been spilled; and he seemed as much at home as if he had been invited to the party.
“I guess he must be our poor family,” laughed Betty as she threw him another handful of corn.
“Twinnies,” suddenly called a man’s voice from the yard. Only father called like that. The twins turned, and there he stood in the door of the barn, smiling at them. They rushed to his arms. How happy they were to see him.
“So you youngsters had a tree for the penniless poor, did you?” he said with a laugh.