Happy Hearts

Mr. and Mrs. Payson had three little children, who were very dear to them, and whom they amused and instructed in many pleasant ways.


One Spring, just as the leaves were bursting open and the birds were filling the air with gay songs, Mr. Payson told the children he had bought a home for them in the country.


This pleased the little ones, and they talked from morning till night about what they would do in their new home.


In the pretty country they watched the birds building their nests, and saw them feeding their young and teaching them to fly; and then they saw them in great cawing, twittering, fluttering swarms moving off to warmer lands when the yellow Autumn leaves began to fall.


But when the Winter winds sung through the old pine trees, the children began to talk about Christmas.


"I wonder if Santa Claus will come away out here, with his great pack of toys," said Rebecca one day. "I am afraid he will forget us, he has so many children to remember."