birds. Winter is the season when the birds need most 

 protection, for their natural food supply is largely cut 

 off, and our house is ringed with suet boxes and feed- 

 ing tables. But just outside the dining-room window, 

 on the very ledge, is the chief feeding place, and here 

 are sunflower seeds and suet at all hours; and at all 

 hours the chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, and wood- 

 peckers may be seen feeding. The chickadees will 

 feed from our hands, and if the window is open they will 

 hop boldly inside, even taking food from the table while 

 we are at dinner. They are so pretty, so friendly, 

 such brave and cheerful little creatures, that a far less 

 tender soul than Saint Francis would desire to share 

 with them his Christmas joys. So we give them a 

 Christmas tree all their own. It is a tiny fir tree, set 

 in a pail outside the window. It is hung with bits of 

 suet and seeds, and on the top is a little red candle, 

 which we light before dark on Christmas Eve, because 

 birds retire early, and the chickadees must have their 

 celebration before bedtime! 



It is the proper thing, I know, to sit around the 

 family hearth (or the family radiator) at Christmas 

 time and read "The Christmas Carol." But I have to 

 make the shameless confession that I cannot read 

 "The Christmas Carol" any more. For me, it no 

 longer represents Christmas, nor the spirit of Christmas. 

 You remember that old Scrooge, after his conversion, 

 among various other remarkable performances gave 



