"Yes, she got well; and was a proud and happy mother when she heard the story. But that is only the beginning of it. I saw that boy when he was a young man and came home from college as handsome as a picture, and I heard his father say to him: 'Well, my boy, they tell me most of the young men use liquor more or less; how do you get on with them?' "And he looked around with his bright laughing eyes and said: "'I'm all right, father; to this day I drink none, but obey my father's commandment. That pledge of mine ought to be printed in gold on my tombstone when I die, for it has held me in the midst of many temptations.' "And there his mother thought he was too young to understand!" And Grandma Burton actually wiped the tears from her eyes, though she was smiling yet. "Grandma," said Marion, "what was that boy's name? You haven't spoken his name once." "I guess something," said Ralph eagerly. "Wasn't his name Mott, Grandma?" "Robert Mott Burton, that was his name, my darlings." "Our own uncle Mott!" said astonished little Sarah. "Then that's what makes him such a red-hot temperance man now, isn't it?" said Rollo. "Didn't he begin early, though?" A CHRISTMAS STORY. [Illustration: THE LONELY LITTLE GIRL.] IT was Christmas morning. Gracie Bennett had wakened early and scrambled out of bed to take a look about her room to see if Santa Claus had paid her a visit while she slept. Santa Claus had queer ways of doing things in the Bennett household. He left packages scattered about in the most unexpected places. He was always sure to leave one for each member of the family in the dining-room, to be opened at the breakfast table, but the children did not have to wait so long for the beginning of the day's surprises. And Gracie found several of these before she had taken half a dozen steps from her bed. Indeed there was a large box on the foot of the bed. In it she found the hat she had been longing for--just exactly like Maud Spencer's! And there in a smaller box was the necklace--and O, how lovely! The bangle bracelet--mamma did not fancy bangles and Gracie did not expect to get that. But mamma knew that little girls' tastes have to be cultivated considerably before they get beyond bangles, and after talking it over with papa she concluded that Gracie's last whim should be indulged since there was really no harm in it. On went the necklace, and on went the bracelet. "One, two, three, four, five, six--six hooks. Let me see--cousin Tom promised me a bangle and of course papa and mamma will each give me one, and Maud's will make four--O, I'll soon have enough to fill it. My! it is shivery here," and Gracie looked around for something to put about her; the furnace fire had run low and it was quite cold. A dressing-gown belonging to cousin Tom which Louise had brought in to mend, hung over a chair, and Gracie was soon arrayed in it. And finding herself quite comfortable she concluded not to go