Joel: A Boy of Galilee $1.50 In the Desert of Waiting .50 The Three Weavers .50 Keeping Tryst .50 The Legend of the Bleeding Heart .50 Asa Holmes 1.00 Songs Ysame (Poems, with Albion Fellows Bacon) 1.00 L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 200 Summer Street Boston, Mass. [Illustration: "'GEE WHIZ!' EXCLAIMED ROB, IN A TEASING TONE, 'SAY THAT AGAIN, WON'T YOU PLEASE?'" (_See page 163_)] The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON Author of "The Little Colonel Series," "Big Brother," "Ole Mammy's Torment," "Joel: A Boy of Galilee," "Asa Holmes," etc. Illustrated by ETHELDRED B. BARRY BOSTON * L. C. PAGE & COMPANY * PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1905_ By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Incorporated) _All rights reserved_ Published October, 1905 Ninth Impression, June, 1908 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. WARWICK HALL 1 II. "THE OLD GIRLS' WELCOME TO THE NEW" 22 III. AN EXCURSION 46 IV. "KEEP TRYST" 70 V. A MEMORY-BOOK AND A SOUVENIR SPOON 95 VI. CHRISTMAS CAROLS 121 VII. HOMEWARD BOUND 138 VIII. A PICNIC IN THE SNOW 156 IX. A PROGRESSIVE CHRISTMAS PARTY 176 X. THE DUNGEON OF DISAPPOINTMENT 198 XI. IN THE ATTIC 218 XII. HUMDRUM DAYS 235 XIII. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF AMANTHIS 254 XIV. "CINDERELLA" 273 XV. A HARD-EARNED PEARL 292 XVI. "SWEET SIXTEEN" 315 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "'GEE WHIZ!' EXCLAIMED ROB, IN A TEASING TONE. 'SAY THAT AGAIN, WON'T YOU PLEASE?'" (_See page 163_) _Frontispiece_ "MADAM'S CONVERSATION LED FAR AWAY FROM THE CREST AND ITS LESSON" 25 "STUDYING THE FACE OF THE HANDSOME YOUNG FELLOW WITH INTEREST" 105 "'I TELL YOU SOMEBODY WAS TRYING TO SANDBAG ME'" 152 "ONE OF THE BOYS HAD DARED HIM TO CARRY IT" 221 "'I NEARLY FAINTED WHEN I HAPPENED TO LOOK UP'" 248 "SHE RODE OVER TO ROLLINGTON" 299 "'NO MATTAH WHAT LIES AHEAD . . . I'LL NOT DISAPPOINT THEM'" 333 THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS VACATION CHAPTER I. WARWICK HALL