DON’T you love to watch the fire?” said Dorothy.  
“Yes, I do,” answered Ray. “Just see that little fireman in the coals!”
 
“But do look at that lovely tree in the coals!” exclaimed Dorothy.
 
The children were sitting before a large open fire. It was two days before Christmas, and Dorothy was on a visit to cousin Ray.
 
The screen girl had been listening to them, and after a few minutes she whispered softly:—“Stand close together, children, then draw the screen around you and I’ll take you far away, where you will see wonderful sights.”
 
Ray drew the screen around himself and Dorothy, and in a few seconds they were moving softly somewhere, but of course as the screen was around them they could not see where they were going.
 
After a long time they stopped moving, the screen opened and the children looked about them. They were in a beautiful country. The ground was covered with snow that gleamed and glistened¹ like diamonds, while all the trees looked just like Christmas trees.
 
“Put on these jackets,” said the screen girl, “so you won’t catch cold,” and she wrapped them up in white woolly suits that covered them from head to foot. “Now, children, you can take a walk in Santa Claus land,” and they started off, hand in hand, to see the sights.
 
The first thing they came to was a lake all frozen over, and the ice was a pale yellow color. “O see,” said Ray, stooping down to find two little pairs of skates right on the edge of the lake.
 
“Let’s put ’em on,” said Dorothy, “and skate around.”
 
The children put on the skates, and never before did they have such glorious skating.
 
“It’s as smooth as glass,” said Ray; “you can just fly over it.”
 
Just as he said the words Dorothy fell. It did not hurt her, as it was only a jolly tumble, but it broke a little piece of the ice.
 
Ray helped Dorothy up and at the same time took up the broken piece of ice and put it in his mouth. “O Dorothy,” said Ray, taking it out again, “take a suck of this ice, it’s perfectly³ lovely.”
 
When Dorothy had tasted, she exclaimed, “Why, Ray, it isn’t ice at all, it’s lovely lemon candy!” It was true; they were skating on a pond of the most delicious lemon candy in the world.
 
“Let’s not skate any longer,” said Dorothy, “let’s just sit down and eat it.”
 
Down they sat and broke off pieces of the ice, and enjoyed themselves until they couldn’t209 eat any more. They arose from the pond, and when they had taken off their skates, they started to walk over the glistening⁵ snow. They passed several ponds of different-colored ice and every one of them was a pond of candy. They walked on the ponds to sample each kind and found orange, peppermint⁶, checkerberry and many other flavors.
 
As they walked towards the beautiful trees, they came to a very large one.
 
“Isn’t it the most beautiful tree you ever saw?” exclaimed Dorothy.
 
“Yes, it is,” said Ray. “I wonder who Santa Claus means it for!”
 
“I don’t know,” replied Dorothy, “perhaps we’ll find out.”
 
“Just see that lovely red sled up there!” cried Ray, clapping his hands. “It’s just what I want,” he said with glee. “O Dorothy, do look, it says on the side of it ‘Dart.’”
 
“Yes, yes,” answered Dorothy, dancing about,210 “but look at that beautiful doll near the top; isn’t she lovely?”
 
“O Dorothy, look quick; there’s a little horse and wagon⁷.”
 
“I see it,” said the little girl, “it’s right near the gingerbread man. And, Ray, just look at the Noah’s Ark.”
 
“Did you ever see such big gingerbread hearts?” exclaimed Ray. “I’d like to have one to eat, wouldn’t you?”
 
“Yes,” replied Dorothy, “but I wonder what is in the boxes and packages that are all tied up with ribbon?”
 
“Presents,” answered Ray, who was a year older and that much wiser than his little cousin.
 
For a long time the children gazed at the beautiful tree, with all its precious burden, and every moment new treasures were discovered. Then they walked to the next Christmas tree and looked at that. When they had seen many211 of the trees they thought that they would walk on and see the other sights. After walking a short distance they came to a beautiful snow castle. They opened the door, peeped in, and what do you suppose they saw? A long row of boxes the whole length of the room. The first box was very large, the one next to it was a little smaller, the next still smaller, and so on until they dwindled⁸ down to a tiny box on the end.
 
“I wonder what is in them?” said Ray with curiosity.
 
“Open one and see,” replied Dorothy quickly.
 
Ray just touched the lid of the large box, when up it flew and there jumped out the largest Jack²-in-the-box the children had ever seen.
 
The minute he jumped he grinned at them and said “Rubber.”
 
It was so sudden that the children started back, but when he disappeared in the box again, they laughed loudly and clapped their hands.
 
“I wonder what he meant?” said Ray, and just then he caught sight of a small rubber button, on the side of the box. Ray pressed the button and lo! every Jack in the long row of boxes bobbed up with a grin and disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. Such a row of grinning faces made the children laugh harder than ever. They walked into another room in the castle and found that it was filled with toys of all sor............