(Mary enters, and looks at the basket.)

MARY.—­A basket on the sidewalk!  What does it mean? (Takes it up.) It is full of shoestrings.  I will take it to my mother, and ask her to find the owner. (MARY takes up the basket, and is going out, when RUTH enters.)

RUTH.—­Are you the girl I bought shoestrings of?

MARY.—­No:  I have not sold any.  These are not mine.

RUTH.—­Have you seen any thing of a purse about here?

MARY.—­No:  I have seen no purse. (Goes off-with the basket.)

RUTH.—–­ Oh! here comes the little girl I was looking for; and she has my purse in her hand. (Enter EMILY.) That is my purse, little girl.

EMILY (giving RUTH the purse).—­Take it.  I was looking for you.  But where is my basket of shoestrings?

RUTH.—­Why, that little girl yonder has it.  See her there, crossing the street.

EMILY.—­It is my basket.  She has taken what does not belong to her.

RUTH.—­Run, and bring her to me. (EMILY starts to go out.) Stop!  What is your name?

EMILY.—­Emily Swift.

RUTH.—­Well, Emily Swift, I think you are mistaken in supposing that the little girl meant to steal your basket.  Bring her to me. (EMILY goes out.) What a pleasant thing it would be to have a purse so full, that one could keep on giving from it, and never find it empty!  But here come the children.

(EMILY leads in MARY).

EMILY.—­Here she is.  She says she was taking the basket to her mother, so that her mother might find the owner.

RUTH.—­And do you doubt her word?

EMILY.—­Doubt her word?  Not I!  She is too good a little girl to tell a falsehood.  Just look in her face, and you will see that she speaks the truth.

RUTH.—­Yes, Emily Swift, you are right.

EMILY.—­Goodness me!  What is that thing coming this way?

MARY.—­I am afraid of it.  Is it a man?

RUTH.—­As I live, it is Uncle Peter!

EMILY.—­Who is Uncle Peter?

RUTH.—­He is the man, who, every Christmas, buys as many toys as he can carry, and gives them to good children.  Here he comes.

(Enter UNCLE PETER, comically dressed, and covered from head to foot with all sorts of toys, he is followed by boys and girls.  He dances and sings to music.)

UNCLE PETER’S SONG.

     “Christmas comes but once a year, once a year, once a year!  So
     follow me, my children dear, children dear, children dear:  So
     follow me, my children dear, on Christmas Eve so joyful!”

(After dancing, he takes EMILY and MARY by the hand, and runs off with them, followed by the rest.)

As this is Emily’s first play, and she is only nine years old, I hope the critics will not be too severe upon it.  If well performed, it will be found, I think, far more amusing in the acting than in the reading.