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Page 12
"Naw! It ain't a Christmas present," said Sam.
"We don't care anything about Christmas," volunteered Ikey with a grin.
Sam looked at him with a frown of rebuke.
"It's just a _present_," he said. "And it didn't cost a cent. I didn't buy
it. I--we found it!"
"Found it in the street?" Joe's eyes shone.
"Yah!" the boys nodded.
"Oh, it _is_ a Christmas present!" cried Joe. "Santa Claus must have
dropped it there for me, because he knew we hadn't any chimney in this
house, and he sent you kind, kind boys to bring it to me."
The two urchins looked sideways at each other, but said nothing. Presently
Sam drew out the box from his pocket and tried to thrust it into Ike's
hand. "You give it to 'um," he said. "You're the biggest."
"Naw! You give it. You found it," protested Ike.
"Ah, g'wan!"
"Big fool!"
There was a tussle, and it almost seemed as if the past unpleasantness was
to be repeated from an opposite cause. But Joe's voice settled the dispute.
"Oh, Sammy, please!" he cried. "I can't wait another minute. Do please give
it to me now!"
At these words Sam stepped forward without further argument and laid the
box on the bed in front of the little cripple. The babies crowded about.
The mother left her machine and stood smiling faintly at the foot of the
bed.
Joe pressed the spring. _Ping!_ Out sprang the Jack-in-the-box, with the
same red nose, the same leer, the same roguish eyes which had surprised the
children of fifty years ago.
[Illustration: _PING!_ OUT SPRANG THE JACK-IN-THE-BOX]
Jack was always sure of his audience. My! How they screamed and begged Joe
to "do it again." And as for Joe, he lay back on his pillow and laughed and
laughed as though he would never stop. It was the first Jack any of them
had seen.
Tears stood in the mother's eyes. "Well," she said, "it's as good as a play
to see him. Joe hasn't laughed like that for months. You boys have done him
lots of good. I wouldn't wonder if it helped him get well! If you was
Christians I'd say you showed the real Christmas spirit. But Lord--perhaps
ye do, all the same! I dunno!"
Sam and Ike were so busy playing with the children that they did not hear.
* * * * *
Gradually the tenement house faded and became a blur before Miss Terry's
eyes. Once more she saw the mantel-shelf before her and the Christmas Angel
with outstretched arms waving to and fro. "You see!" he said. "You did not
guess all the pleasure that was shut up in that box with old Jack, did
you?"
Miss Terry shook her head.
"And you see how different it all was from what you thought. Now let us see
what became of the Canton-flannel dog."
"The Flanton Dog." Miss Terry amended the phrase under her breath. It
seemed so natural to use Tom's word.
"Yes, the Flanton Dog," the Angel smiled. "What do you think became of
him?"
"I saw what became of him," said Miss Terry. "Bob Cooper threw him under an
automobile, and he was crushed flatter than a pancake."
"Then you left the window," said the Angel. "In your human way you assumed
that this was the end. But wait and see."
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