Yet have I brought a gift the Child
May not despise, however small;
For here I lay my heart to-day,
And it is full of love to all.
Take Thou the poor but loyal thing,
My only tribute, Christ, my King!



BABOUSCKA

ADELAIDE SKEEL


If you were a Russian child you would not watch to see Santa Klaus come
down the chimney; but you would stand by the windows to catch a peep at
poor Babouscka as she hurries by.

Who is Babouscka? Is she Santa Klaus' wife?

No, indeed. She is only a poor little crooked wrinkled old woman, who
comes at Christmas time into everybody's house, who peeps into every
cradle, turns back every coverlid, drops a tear on the baby's white
pillow, and goes away very sorrowful.

And not only at Christmas time, but through all the cold winter, and
especially in March, when the wind blows loud, and whistles and howls and
dies away like a sigh, the Russian children hear the rustling step of the
Babouscka. She is always in a hurry. One hears her running fast along the