Whos that little gal goin by? said old Mrs. Emmons. That-why, thats young Lucretia, mother, replied her daughter Ann, peering out of the window over her mothers shoulder. There was a fringe of flowering geraniums in the window; the two women had to stretch their heads over them. Poor little soul! old Mrs. Emmons remarked further. I pity that child. I dont see much to pity her for, Ann returned, in a voice high-pitched and sharply sweet; she was the soprano singer in the village choir. I dont see why she isnt taken care of as well as most children. Well, I dont know but shes took care of, but I guess she dont get much coddlin. Lucretia an Maria aint that kind-never was. I heerd the other day they was goin to have a Christmas-tree down to the school-house. Now Id be will-in to ventur considerble that child dont have a thing ont. Well, if shes kept clean an whole, an made to behave, it amounts to a good deal moren Christmas presents, I suppose. Ann sat down and turned a hem with vigor: she was a dress-maker. Well, I spose it does, but it kinder seems as if that little gal ought to have somethin. Do you remember them little rag babies I used to make for you, Ann? I spose shed be terrible tickled with one. Some of that blue thibet would be jest the thing to make it a dress of. Now, mother, you aint goin to fussing. She wont think anything of it. Yes, she would, too. You used to take sights of comfort with em. Old Mrs. Emmons, tall and tremulous, rose up and went out of the room. Shes gone after the linen pieces, thought her daughter Ann. She is dreadfully silly. Ann began smoothing out some remnants of blue thibet on her lap. She selected one piece that she thought would do for the dress. Meanwhile young Lucretia went to school. It was quite a cold day, but she was warmly dressed. She wore her aunt Lucretias red and green plaid shawl, which Aunt Lucretia had worn to meeting when she was herself a little girl, over her aunt Marias black ladies cloth coat. The coat was very large and roomy-indeed, it had not been altered at all-but the cloth was thick and good. Young Lucretia wore also her aunt Marias black alpaca dress, which had been somewhat decreased in size to fit her, and her aunt Lucretias purple hood with a nubia tied over it. She had mittens, a black quilted petticoat, and her aunt Marias old drab stockings drawn over her shoes to keep the snow from her ankles. If young Lucretia caught cold, it would not be her aunts fault. She went along rather clumsily, but quite merrily, holding her tin dinner-pail very steady. Her aunts had charged her not to swing it, and get the dinner in a mess. Young Lucretias face, with very pink cheeks, and smooth lines of red hair over the temples, looked gayly and honestly out of the hood and nubia. Here and there along the road were sprigs of evergreen and ground-pine and hemlock. Lucretia glanced a trifle soberly at them. She was nearly in sight of the school-house when she reached Alma Fords house, and Alma came out and joined her....