"O little ones, ye cannot know
The power with which ye plead,
Nor why, as on through life we go,
The little child doth lead."
It was very early Christmas morning, and in the stillness of the dawn,with the soft snow falling on the housetops, a little child was born inthe Bird household.
They had intended to name the baby Lucy, if it were a girl; but theyhadn't expected her on Christmas morning, and a real Christmas baby wasnot to be lightly named—the whole family agreed in that.
They were consulting about it in the nursery. Mr. Bird said that hehad assisted in naming the three boys, and that he should leave thismatter entirely to Mrs. Bird; Donald wanted the child called "Maud,"after a pretty little curly-haired girl who sat next him in school;Paul chose "Luella," for Luella was the nurse who had been with himduring his whole babyhood, up to the time of his first trousers, andthe name suggested all sorts of comfortable things. Uncle Jack saidthat the first girl should always be named for her mother, no matterhow hideous the name happened to be.
Grandma said that she would prefer not to take any part in thediscussion, and everybody suddenly remembered that Mrs. Bird hadthought of naming the baby Lucy, for Grandma herself; and, while itwould be indelicate for her to favor that name, it would be againsthuman nature for her to suggest an