'Tain't worth it"-- a saying which my uncle often quoted.
Thus early I got a notion of the curious extravagance of the money worshiper.

How different was my uncle, who cared too little for money! At Christmas I got a picture-book and forty raisins and three sticks of candy with red stripes on them and a jew's-harp.

That was the Christmas we went down to Aunt Liza's to spend the day and I helped myself to two pieces of cake when the plate was passed and cried because they all laughed at my greediness.

It was the day when Aunt Liza's boy, Truman, got a silver watch and chain and her daughter Mary a gold ring, and when all the relatives were invited to come and be convinced, once and for all, of Uncle Roswell's prosperity and be filled with envy and reconciled with jelly and preserves and roast turkey with sage dressing and mince and chicken pie.

What an amount of preparation we had made for the journey, and how long we had talked about it! When we had shut the door and were ready to get into the sleigh our dog Shep came whining around us.