Produced by David Edwards, Carla Foust and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Transcriber's note Inconsistencies in language and dialect found in the original book have been retained. Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer errors have been changed and are listed at the end. [Illustration: SOLOMON CROW'S CHRISTMAS POCKETS RUTH McENERY STUART] [Illustration: [_See page 34_ "'DIS HEAH'S A FUS-CLASS THING TER WORK OFF BAD TEMPERS WID'"] SOLOMON CROW'S CHRISTMAS POCKETS AND OTHER TALES BY RUTH McENERY STUART AUTHOR OF "A GOLDEN WEDDING" "THE STORY OF BABETTE" "CARLOTTA'S INTENDED" ETC. ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1897 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. CARLOTTA'S INTENDED, and Other Tales. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 50. THE GOLDEN WEDDING, and Other Tales. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 50. THE STORY OF BABETTE. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 50. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._ TO MY DEAR NIECE LITTLE MISS LEA CALLAWAY CONTENTS PAGE SOLOMON CROW'S CHRISTMAS POCKETS 3 THE TWO TIMS 23 THE FREYS' CHRISTMAS PARTY 39 LITTLE MOTHER QUACKALINA 67 OLD EASTER 91 SAINT IDYL'S LIGHT 111 "BLINK" 131 DUKE'S CHRISTMAS 165 UNCLE EPHE'S ADVICE TO BRER RABBIT 193 MAY BE SO 199 ILLUSTRATIONS "'DIS HEAH'S A FUS-CLASS THING TER WORK OFF BAD TEMPERS WID'" _Frontispiece_ "'SHE OUGHT TO EAT CANARY-SEED AND FISH-BONE'" _Facing p._ 46 THE ITALIAN ORGAN-GRINDER " 62 "THE PROFESSOR NOT ONLY SANG, BUT DANCED" " 64 "THE FARMER'S BOY WAS A HUNTER" " 68 "SIR SOOTY HIMSELF ACTUALLY WADDLED INTO THE FARM-YARD" " 74 "'I'M GOIN' TO SWAP 'EM'" " 76 "MADE HER PUT OUT HER TONGUE" " 78 "HER OWN TEN BEAUTIFUL DUCKS WERE CLOSE ABOUT HER" " 86 OLD EASTER " 92