[Gutenberg 24286] • The Birds' Christmas Carol 2

A LITTLE SNOW BIRD 3 Bird never allowed her babies to go over night unnamed. She was a person of so great decision of character that she would have blushed at such a thing ; she said that to let blessed babies go dan- gling and dawdling about without names, for months and months, was enough to ruin them for life. She also said that if one could not make up one's mind in twenty-four hours it was a sign that — But I will not repeat the rest, as it might prejudice you against the most charming woman in the world. So Donald took his new velocipede and went out to ride up and down the stone pavement and notch the shins of innocent people as they passed by, while Paul spun his musical top on the front steps. But Hugh refused to leave the scene of action. He seated himself on the top stair in the hall, banged his head against the railing a few times, just by way of uncorking the vials of his wrath, and then subsided into gloomy silence, waiting to declare war if more " first girl babies " were thrust upon a fam- ily already surfeited with that unnecessary article.