“Yes,” said Mrs. Burton; but instead of finding Him in a pleasant home and a nice room, with careful friends and nurses around Him, He was in a manger out in a stable.”

“That was ’cause he was so smart that He could do just what He wanted to, an’ be just where he liked,” said Budge, “an’ He was a little boy, an’ little boys always like stables better than houses—­I wish I could live in a stable always an’ for ever.”

“So do I,” said Toddie, “an’ sleep in mangers, ’cauzh then the horses would kick anybody that made me put on clean clothezh when I didn’t want to.  They gaveded him presentsh, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Burton; “gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

“Why didn’t they give him rattles and squealey-balls, like folks did budder Phillie when he was a baby,” asked Toddie.

“Because, Toddie,” said Mrs. Burton, glad of an opportunity to get the sentiment of the story into her own hands, from which it had departed very early in the course of the lesson—­“because He was no common baby, like other children.  He was the Lord.”

“What!  The Lord once a dear little baby?” exclaimed Toddie.

“Yes,” replied Mrs. Burton, shuddering to realize that Toddie had not before been taught of the nature of the Holy Trinity.

“An’ played around like uvver little boysh?” continued Toddie.

“I—­I—­suppose so,” said Mrs. Burton, fearing lest in trying to instill reverence into her nephews, she herself might prove irreverent.

“Did somebody say ‘Don’t’ at Him every time he did anyfing?” continued Toddie.

“N—­n—­n—­o!  I imagine not,” said Mrs. Burton, “because he was always good.”

“That don’t make any diffwelence,” said Toddie.  “The better a little boy triesh to be, the more folks say ‘Don’t’ to him.  So I guesh nobody had any time to say anyfing elsh at all to Jesus.”

“What did He do next?” asked Budge, as deeply interested as if he had not heard the same story many times before.

“He grew strong in body and spirit,” said Mrs. Burton, “and everybody loved Him; but before He had time to do all that, an angel came and frightened His papa in a dream, and told him that the king of that country would kill little Jesus if he could find Him.  So Joseph, the papa of Jesus, and Mary, His mamma, got up in the middle of the night, and started off to Egypt.”

“Seems to me that Egypt was ’bout as bad in those days as Europe is now,” remarked Budge.  “Whenever papa tells about anybody that nobody can find, he says, ‘Gone to Europe, I s’pose.’  What did they find when they got there?”