In the hollow Meredith Gordon met them . `` Cousin Meredith , '' said Miss Corona tremulously . `` Dear Corona . '' He took both her hands in his , and kissed her heartily . `` Forgive me for misunderstanding you so long . I thought you hated us all . '' Turning to Juliet , he said with a fatherly smile , `` What a terrible girl it is for having its own way ! Who ever heard of a Gordon bride doing such an unconventional thing ? There , scamper off to the house before your guests come . Laura has made your roses up into what she calls ' a dream of a bouquet , ' I 'll take Cousin Corona up more leisurely . '' `` Oh , I knew that something beautiful was going to happen when the old rose-tree bloomed , '' murmured Miss Corona happily . The Josephs ' Christmas The month before Christmas was always the most exciting and mysterious time in the Joseph household . Such scheming and planning , such putting of curly heads together in corners , such counting of small hoards , such hiding and smuggling of things out of sight , as went on among the little Josephs ! There were a good many of them , and very few of the pennies ; hence the reason for so much contriving and consulting . From fourteen-year-old Mollie down to four-year-old Lennie there were eight small Josephs in all in the little log house on the prairie ; so that when each little Joseph wanted to give a Christmas box to each of the other little Josephs , and something to Father and Mother Joseph besides , it is no wonder that they had to cudgel their small brains for ways and means thereof . Father and Mother were always discreetly blind and silent through December . No questions were asked no matter what queer things were done . Many secret trips to the little store at the railway station two miles away were ignored , and no little Joseph was called to account because he or she looked terribly guilty when somebody suddenly came into the room . The air was simply charged with secrets . Sister Mollie was the grand repository of these ; all the little Josephs came to her for advice and assistance .
It was XXXXX who for troubled small brothers and sisters did such sums in division as this : How can I get a ten-cent present for Emmy and a fifteen-cent one for Jimmy out of eighteen cents ?
Corona Father Joseph Josephs Juliet Laura Lennie Mollie Mother rose-tree