“Then you had better open it,” answered Buttons in just the same tone as before.
Pepin untied the string, but his hands shook. “It is square,” he said, feeling it. He took off one wrapper. “It is hard,” he said again, trembling all over. He took off the second wrapper, and it nearly dropped from his fingers.
“A box of paints!” screamed the children, dancing around.
Pepin tried to speak, but he could not get out a word. He kissed the box, he laughed, but you could see he was near crying. The little wife’s eyes were full of tears also.
“Come! come!” said Buttons. “Do people cry over Christmas gifts?” There were no tears in his eyes. He was ready to dance, though now he would have no overcoat. As for Nutcracker, he had a curious tingling sensation all over him, though he was only a copper penny; and, happening to look towards the hearth, he saw Santa Claus. The old fellow had tied up his reindeer and slipped down the chimney, and was winking hard, and wiping his eyes, while pretending to blow his nose.
“I have it! I have got it, and know what it is!” cried Nutcracker, at the top of his lungs. “The Christmas spirit lives here all the year round, and these people love one another, and are happy. That is what I never had at home—happiness; that is what my money could not buy. That is why I was every day trying to make more money—always hoping to make money enough to buy it.”
Should you not think that Buttons would have been very much frightened to hear such a voice coming out of his pocket? No doubt he would, only, in some mysterious way, Nutcracker found himself on his legs again, and he was walking as fast as he could with a pocketful of money, to buy a monstrous turkey, and the best overcoat in the city, and boots and a hat to match, and a new gown, and a dressing-gown, and a shawl and a set of paints, and a great bouquet, and a basket of toys, and candies—for whom? Why, for Buttons, and Grandpa and Grandma Nutcracker, and the pleasant little wife, and Pepin, and the children, of course!
THE MAN OF SNOW
Harriet Myrtle
When I was a little girl we lived entirely in the country for several years, and one winter there was a great fall of snow. The snow covered the roof of the house, the roofs of the stable and cow shed, and the branches of every tree were so thickly covered with the beautiful white snow that sometimes in the morning, when I looked out of the window, I could, at first, have fancied the trees were all apple and pear trees full of blossoms. You may, therefore, believe that the snow lay very deep in the fields.