were, as they ran their little paws down 

 into each fur stocking, and brought 

 forth the most wonderful things, surely, 

 that rabbits ever had. 



There were little red apples, and all 

 kinds of nuts, and nice green things to 

 eat, and actually, a doll, made out of 

 cornstalks, and corn-silk for hair. They 

 had never had a doll before, and they 

 hugged them to their little furry breasts 

 with ecstasy. When the children were all 

 through looking at their gifts the papa 

 and mamma looked at the foot of their 

 bed and found the things Santa had 

 brought them. There were bushels of 

 red and yellow apples, bags of wheat, 

 great cabbages and celery, tender lettuce 

 and all the good things so dear to the 

 heart of a rabbit. 



Dear, dear! Their mouths fairly 

 watered, as they looked at these things. 

 More than enough to last them all win- 

 ter, and now they would not have to go 

 out in the cold, bitter weather, searching 

 for something to eat. They could stay in 

 their good warm tree, and have a jolly 

 time together, and eat all the good things 

 they wanted. After breakfast the chil- 

 dren all ran out and played snowball and 

 frolicked around at leap-frog and such 

 outdoor sports all morning, which made 

 them so hungry that they felt as if they 

 could eat up the whole lot of winter sup- 

 plies. After a while mamma called them 

 in, and they joyfully sat down to their 

 Christmas dinner. There was a long 

 table, just filled with good things, and 

 the children all sat on big strong toad- 

 stools. My ! how hungry they were. But 

 mamma had known they would be, and 

 had provided everything good that a rab- 

 bit likes, and actually had some tiny 

 cakes, and little red candies. What a 

 jolly meal that was ! Everybody laughing 

 and chewing away at something held 

 tightly between their two little front 

 paws, and wrinkling up their funny 

 brown noses, smelling at all the good 

 things on the table. It was quite late 

 when they finished the merry meal, and 



after looking for some time at the things 

 which Santa had brought, papa and mam- 

 ma said : "Children, we have another 

 surprise for you now." 



Another surprise ! What could it be ? 

 It seemed to them that they already had 

 every surprise in the world, and they 

 could not imagine how anything else 

 could be thought of. 



Mamma made each of them put on a 

 very heavy fur coat, and fur shoes, and 

 they all went out, and went skipping 

 over the cold white snow, until at last, 

 through the darkness they caught a 

 glimpse of something sparkling, and 

 bright and beautiful. Bright lights hung 

 everywhere, and in the center of it all 

 was a tree — that was not like any tree 

 they had ever seen before in all their 

 little rabbit lives. It was a rabbit Christ- 

 mas tree, just covered with beantiful 

 gifts for all, and there all around the tree 

 were dozens and dozens of rabbits many 

 of whom were friends of theirs, and 

 what a jolly crowd it was. Everybody 

 good natured, and all jumping and hop- 

 ping, as if their lives depended upon it. 

 Pretty soon from out the darkness who 

 should appear but Santa himself? O, 

 what hurrying and scurrying of little 

 furry feet there was, as all the little bun- 

 nies tried to get near him. He smiled 

 upon them all as he stepped to the tree 

 and began handing gifts to each and 

 every one of them. And the funniest part 

 of it was, that he knew every one of 

 their names. After the gifts had all been 

 distributed they all joined hands around 

 Santa Claus, and went around in the 

 wildest, merriest dance, that was ever 

 danced by a party of rabbits. So light of 

 feet and so happy were they that they 

 fairly flew over the ground. Then the 

 good old Santa told them good-by till 

 next year, and jumping into his sleigh, 

 vanished from sight. They all went 

 home very tired, but O, so very, very 

 happy to be tucked away again into 

 their soft, warm nests of gray moss. 



Jessie Juliet Knox. 



215 



