Take it! what could have bribed him to forego the treat of witnessing Nettie’s rapture in the survey of this resplendent and accomplished demoiselle? “We have some very pretty doll-carriages, in which the lady can take the air,” was the next attack, and Mr. Dryden fell a willing sacrifice to this new snare. In very compassion for her victim, the woman directed his thoughts to the boy’s gifts. A velocipede; a wheelbarrow, with spade, rake, and hoe; a set of jackstraws, for winter evenings; a football and a sled made up the complement that was to transport the semi-infidel to the seventh heaven of ecstacy. Truth obliges me to mention that the lavish parent sustained a slight shock when the obliging saleswoman figured up and presented the amount of his indebtedness; but he rallied bravely. “Christmas comes but once a year!” he said, manfully, and paid his bill with a good grace. “You could not purchase the same quantity of happiness so cheaply in any other manner,” remarked the bland merchant, oracularly. The tit-bit of wisdom was assuredly not original with her, but it impressed the hearer as a profound and truthful observation--one well worth remembering. He was getting on very swiftly, indeed, in the acquisition of Christmas lore. “You have but two children, then, sir?” remarked the lady, casually, in handing him his change. “Bless my life! I forgot the twins!” exclaimed the father, aghast. “But I suppose they are too young to appreciate Christmas presents.” “What age?” queried the other, sweetly. “Two and a half.” “My dear sir! they would be disconsolate if they were overlooked! Children understand these matters astonishingly soon.” And having ascertained the sex of the twins, she selected two rubber balls, and two sets of building blocks for their delectation. “Our porter will take them for you,” she said, amused at Mr. Dryden’s amazed contemplation of the dimensions of the pyramid she constructed of his purchases. “Please favor us with your address!” “Really, a little more practice will render me an adept in toy shopping!” thought Mr. Dryden, complacently, when he was beyond the enchanted ground, the seductions of which had lightened both heart and pocket. “It is not a disagreeable or difficult operation, after all.” As he neared his own door on his return, his pockets crammed with conical packages of sugar-plums, nuts, and crystallized fruits, he overtook the porter with his barrow. “Quietly, my man!” he said, inserting his latch-key in the lock with secret trepidation of spirit. “It would never do to awaken the children. Or to attract my wife’s attention,” he added, inly.