Page 12 - Among the camps, or, Young people's stories of the war

Such was Christmas morning at Holly Hill in the old

times before the w ar Thus it Mas, that at Christmas 1863,
when there were 110 new toys to be h:id for love or money,
there were much disappointment and sente murmurs at Holly
Hill. T h e children had never really felt the war until then,

though their father, Major Staifortl, had been off, first with
his company and then with his regiment, since April, i#6i.

Now from Mrs. Stafford down to little tot Evelyn* there was
;in absence of the merriment which Christmas always brought
with it. Their mother had done all she could to collect such
presents as were within her reach, but the youngsters were

much too sharp not to know that the presents were “ just
fixed u p "; and when they were all gathered around the fire
in their mother's chamber, Christmas morning, looking over
their presents; their little faces wore an expression of pathetic

disappointment,
111 don’t think much of this Christmas,1' announced Ran,
with characteristic gravity, looking down on his presents with
an air of contempt. " A hatchet, a ball of string, and a hare-
trap isn’t much.”

Mrs. Stafford smiled, but the smile soon died away into
an expression of sadness.
111 loo have to do without my Christmas gift,” she said.
'‘ Your father wrote me that he hoped to spend Christmas
with us. and he has not come/'

“ Never mind; he may come yet,11 said Bob encourag­
ingly. (Bob always was encouraging. That was why he was