“I suppose Mr. Robinson is laying his plans for Christmas,” remarked Uncle John.  “He believes in taking time by the forelock—­and a very commendable habit it is, too.”

“Yes,” answered Marcia laconically.

Jack glanced at her keenly.  “Is there anything new in the Christmas line?” he asked.

The gray eyes grew black, and the red spots burned again, as Marcia replied:  “Well, I should think so—­he proposes to turn things topsy-turvy!”

“My!  What does he want to do?” inquired Cousin Augusta.

“Oh, he calls it the ‘White Gift Christmas’; but the long and short of the matter is, that he proposes to ‘turn down’ Santa Claus, and all the old time-honored customs connected with Christmas that are so dear to the hearts of the children, and have the school do the giving.  He has a big banner hung up in the Sunday school room bearing the words, ’Gifts for the Christ-Child’.”

“An excellent idea,” exclaimed Uncle John, “but I don’t see much of an innovation about that; you have always made the children’s giving a part of your Christmas celebration, have you not?”

“Certainly!” rejoined Marcia.  “They have always brought their little gifts for the poor, and that is all right; but this time there are no gifts to the Sunday school at all.”

“Not even to the Primary School?” asked Augusta.

“Well,” admitted Marcia, “Mr. Robinson gave the children their choice today, whether they would have the old Christmas or the ’White Gift Christmas,’ and they all voted for the new idea.”

“Why then should the children be obliged to have gifts, if they don’t want them?” laughed Augusta.

“Oh, children are always taken with novelty, and Mr. Robinson told it to them in such a way that fancy was captivated; but I don’t think they really understood what they were giving up.”

“Marcia, it seems to me that your are emphasizing the wrong side of the subject if I understand it aright,” said Jack.

“Why, do you know about it?” asked Marcia, in surprise.

“Not much,” replied Jack; “but I read the White Gift story in the ‘Sunday School Times,’ and the report of the Painesville experiment.”

“Well, Jack, tell us what you know about this mysterious ’White Gift’,” commanded his father.

“I would rather Marcia should tell it, father; I know so little.”

“Oh, go on, Jack,” urged Marcia; “you can’t possibly know less about it than I do, for I confess I was so full of the disappointment of the little ones that the other side of it didn’t impress me very much.”

“Well, as I remember it,” said Jack, “the gist of the plan is this—­that Christmas is Christ’s birthday, and we should make our gifts to him, instead of to one another; and the idea of the White Gift was suggested by the story of the Persian king named Kublah Khan, who was a wise and good ruler, and greatly beloved.  On his birthday his subjects kept what they called the ‘White