The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 | Page 2

RACE FOR LIFE Frontispiece
Facing Page
"THE SON OF MAN CAME NOT TO BE MINISTERED UNTO,
BUT TO MINISTER" 44
"YOUR SISTER IS COMING?" HE SAID 80
MRS. MEADOWS' BROTHER ARRIVED 130
AT THE SHOW 184
"DO FORGIVE ME, MOTHER DARLING!" 232
HER HOSTESS HAD BEEN FEEDING THE PEACOCKS 308
IN BLACK AND WHITE
"I SHAN'T PLAY IF YOU FELLOWS ARE SO ROUGH!" 38
GERALD LOOKS PUZZLED 46
IT WAS UNDER A NOBLE TREE THAT MAX ASKED MARY TO
MARRY HIM 64
"GALLANTS LOUNGING IN THE PARK" 98
LOOKING AT HIM, I SAW THAT HE WAS HAGGARD AND
STRANGE 106
GOLF FOR GIRLS--A BREEZY MORNING 144
SELINA MARTYN GAVE HER ANSWER 158

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE COME ABOUT THE GAS BILL" 170
THE ROCK SHE CLUNG TO GAVE WAY 200
SPRING CLEANING 203
HORRIBLE DREAMS OF MONSTERS AND DEMONS 216
HER VERY YOUTH PLEADED FOR HER 249
BARBARA'S VISIT 268
"AS HE KISSED HIS FIRSTBORN UNDER THE MISTLETOE" 340
"NOW I AM GOING TO FAN YOU," SHE SAID 348
EILY STOOD A FORLORN, DESOLATE FIGURE ON EUSTON
PLATFORM 366

INDEX TO AUTHORS
PAGE ARMITT, ANNIE 96 BENT, KATE BURNLEY 197 BLAKE,
C. J. 317 BUCKLAND, A. R. 247 CANUCK, JANEY 114
CREIGHTON, MRS. 39 DAWSON, H. WILLIAM 310 ELIAS,
FRANK 260 GIBERNE, AGNES 74 GIBNEY, SOMERVILLE 148
JACKSON, LUCIE E. 66 JOHNSON, KELSO B. 52 KENYON,
EDITH C. 59 LEFUSE, M. 131 LESLIE, MARY 203 LING, M. 266
LONGMORE, M. E. 294 MACQUOID, MRS. 22 MADDICK, MAUD
230 MANWELL, M. B. 211 MILNES-GASKELL, LADY
CATHERINE 183 MOON, FLORENCE 362 MOORE, E. B. 342
MURPHY, K. BALFOUR 204 O'CONNOR, EILEEN 120 OLD
STAGER, AN 143 OYLER, LESLIE M. 45 OYLER, MADELINE 160
ORPEN, ADELA E. 285 PERKS, MRS. HARTLEY 165 PONDER, J.
S. 89 SPETTIGUE, J. H. 238 VAIZEY, MRS. G. DE HORNE 9
WILLIAMS, HENRY 221

[Sidenote: A happy thought, a cross-country journey, a strange
discovery, another happy thought, and many still happier thoughts
hereafter!]
The Christmas Child
BY
MRS. G. DE HORNE VAIZEY
Jack said: "Nonsense! We are all grown up now. Let Christmas alone.
Take no notice of it; treat it as if it were an ordinary day."
Margaret said: "The servants have all begged for leave. Most of their
mothers are dying, and if they are not, it's a sister who is going to be
married. Really, it's a servants' ball which the Squire is giving in the
village hall. Mean, I call it, to decoy one's maids just when one needs
them most!"
Tom said: "Beastly jolly dull show anyhow, to spend the day alone
with your brothers and sisters. Better chuck it at once!"
Peg said firmly and with emphasis: "Heathen! Miserable, cold-blooded,
materially-minded frogs! Where's your Christmas spirit, I should like to
know? . . . If you have none for yourselves, think of other people.
Think of me! I love my Christmas, and I'm not going to give it up for
you or any one else. My very first Christmas at home as a growed-up
lady, and you want to diddle me out of it. . . . Go to! Likewise, avaunt!
Now by my halidom, good sirs, you know not with whom you have to
deal. 'Tis my royal pleasure the revels proceed!"
Jack grimaced eloquently at Margaret, who grimaced back.
"With all the pleasure in the world," he said suavely. "Show me a revel,
and I'll revel with the best. I like revels. What I do not like is to stodge
at home eating an indigestible meal, and pretending that I'm full of glee,
when in reality I'm bored to death. If you could suggest a change. . . ."

Margaret sighed; Tom sniffed; Peg pursed up her lips and thought.
Presently her eyes brightened. "Of course," she remarked tentatively,
"there are the Revells!"
Jack flushed and bit his lips.
"Quite so! There are. Fifty miles away, and not a spare bed in the house.
Lot of good they are to us, to be sure! Were you going to suggest that
we dropped in for a quiet call? Silly nonsense, to talk of a thing like
that."
Jack was quite testy and huffed, for the suggestion touched a tender
point. The Revells were the friends par excellence of the family of
which he was the youthful head. It seemed, indeed, as if the two
households had been specially manufactured so that each should fit the
wants of the other. Jack was very certain that, in any case, Myra Revell
supplied all that he lacked, and the very thought of spending Christmas
Day in her company sent a pang of longing through his heart. Margaret
cherished a romantic admiration for Mrs. Revell, who was still a girl at
heart despite the presence of a grown-up family. Dennis was at
Marlborough with Tom; while Pat or