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he letter to ask Helen to come. So, Edith got up at her mother's
writing-desk and took some of her own writing paper, and began to write.
She could make the letters but she could not spell very well. She asked
her mother how to spell the words and then she wrote them down. And this
is the letter she wrote:

 [Illustration: hand-written letter

 Dear Helen,

 Mamma says I May ask you to come
 to my tea party next Tuesday at four oclock
 Bring your dolly.

 your loving friend.
 Edith]

Then she sealed the letter in the envelop, and put a stamp on it, and
stood on the front piazza so as to give it to the postman herself.

When Tuesday came, Edith's nurse dressed her in a fresh, white frock,
and Edith dressed her dolly in her best dress, and went out under the
trees where her nurse had set the table for two. And then she sat in a
chair at the table and waited. But the big town clock struck four and no
Helen came; and then she waited for half an hour longer. Then Edith put
her dolly down on the chair and went in the house to find her mother.

"Mama," she said, "I think Helen is very rude, she doesn't come to my
party and I invited her!"

 [Illustration: EDITH WAITING FOR HELEN.]

"Just wait a little longer, dear," said her mother, "and she will come.
Maybe her nurse was busy dressing Helen's little sister and brother and
couldn't get her ready in time."

"But I invited her," was all Edith could say; "but I invited her, and
she doesn't come."

Then her mother went to the telephone and called up Helen's mother. In a
moment she came back.

"Edith, dear," she said, "what day did you write Helen to come? Her
mother says she thought it was to be Thursday, and so did Helen, and
this is only Tuesday."

"But I _did_ say Tuesday, mama," said Edith, who was almost ready to
cry. "I remember because that was the hardest word to spell, and I think
I made a blot when I wrote it."

"Well, never mind, dear; Helen is getting ready now and will be over in
a few minutes," said her mama.

And Edith was very happy, and ran out to the tea-table under the trees
with her doll to wait.

But she did not have to wait very long this time, for in a little while
Helen came running across the lawn carrying her doll; and so happy were
both little girls that Edith forgot all about the long time she had been
waiting for Helen to come.

 [Illustration: HELEN AND HER DOLLY.]

Helen wanted Edith to know that she had not been rude in staying away,
so she brought with her the letter Edith had sent to her, so she could
show it to Edith. And there, sure enough, the word "Tuesday" was written
so badly that it looked more like "Thursday," and that was why Helen did
not think she was expected on this day.

Well, the very first thing they did was to undress their dolls and put
them to sleep under one of the bushes on the lawn--in the shade, so that
the sun would not hurt their eyes, and so that the wax would not be
melted from their cheeks. Edith put her napkin over both dolls for a
comforter, for you never know when it will blow up cold, and little
girls have to be as careful of their dolls as their own mothers are!

Very soon the maid came out with cookies and lady-fingers and
make-believe tea, and another napkin to take the place of the one Edith
had put over the dolls, and they had tea. Then the two little girls and
Edith's nurse had a nice game of croquet, and they had a lovely
tea-party after all, and Edith forgot all about waiting so long for
Helen to come.

But Edith never again made a mistake when she spelled "Tuesday."

REBECCA

BY ELEANOR PIATT

 [Illustration: "OH, DOCTOR! COME QUICK! REBECCA HAS A CHILL!"]

 I have a doll, Rebecca,
 She's quite a little care,
 I have to press her ribbons
 And comb her fluffy hair.

 I keep her clothes all mended,
 And wash her hands and face,
 And make her frocks and aprons,
 All trimmed in frills and lace.

 I have to cook her breakfast,
 And pet her when she's ill;
 And telephone the doctor
 When Rebecca has a chill.

 Rebecca doesn't like that,
 And says she's well and strong;
 And says she'll try--oh! very hard,
 To be good all day long.

 But when night comes, she's nodding;
 So into bed we creep
 And snuggle up together,
 And soon are fast asleep.

 I have no other dolly,
 For you can plainly see,
 In caring for Rebecca,
 I'm busy as can be!

DOROTHEA'S SCHOOL GIFTS

BY EUNICE WARD

"It seems very queer," said Dorothea thoughtfully, "people who are going
to do something nice always have presents given them, but people who are
going to do something horrid never get a thing, and they need it twice
as much."

"As for instance?" said her father, laying down his paper and drawing
her onto his knee, while the rest of the family prepared to give the
customary amused attention to their youngest's remarks.

 [Illustration: "'YOU KNOW SCHOOL BEGINS NEXT WEEK,' SAID DOROTHEA."]

"Well, when Cousin Edith went to Europe we all gave her presents to take
with her, and when she came home lots of people sent her flowers.
Anita's been getting cups and things ever since she was engaged, and
last spring, when Florence graduated, almost all the family gave her
something; and when Mary Bowman was confirmed she got a lovely white
prayer-book and a gold cross and chain. But when people are going to do
what they hate to do, they're left out in the cold."

"What are you going to do that you don't like, Baby?" asked Florence.

"Why, you know, school begins again next week," said Dorothea. "It makes
me feel quite mournful, and I don't see anything to cheer me up and make
it interesting for me." A little smile was hidden in the corners of her
mouth although her tone was as doleful as possible.

"If you were going to boarding-school--" began Anita, who was apt to
take everything seriously.

"Then I'd have lots of things," interrupted Dorothea. "New clothes and a
trunk and a bag, and you'd all come to see me off, and it would be
interesting. But I'm going to work just as hard here at day-school, and
yet I've got to bear it, all by myself."

Her father pinched her ear, and her big brother Jim offered to have a
bunch of roses placed on her desk at school if that would make her feel
better, while her two sisters looked at each other as though the same
idea had occurred to them both.

 * * *

On the morning of the first day of school, Dorothea was suddenly
awakened by a loud ting-a-ling-a-ling. She sat up in bed and rubbed her
eyes. The room was flooded with morning light and the brass knobs on her
bed gleamed cheerfully at her and seemed to say: "Get up, get up!" Now
Dorothea was a "sleepyhead" and had seldom been known to get up when
first awakened. It usually took at least three calls from her mother or
the girls, and sometimes Jim stole in and administered a "cold pig,"
that is, a few drops of chilly water squeezed upon her neck from a
sponge, before she was ready to leave her comfortable bed.

"It's an alarm clock," thought Dorothea. "But where is it?" Her eyes
traveled sleepily around the room 

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