THE Teddy bears sold like hot cakes. Never before had any one toy called forth such a demand. And it really seemed as if every Christmas tree in the town was destined to be decorated with at least two or three of the quaint little brown creatures.

One afternoon a smart little electric car stopped in front of the big department store. Out of it stepped a fashionably gowned woman, and after her sprang out a plump little girl with round, rosy cheeks, a pair of round blue eyes and a little red mouth that she was in the habit of screwing up into a round O whenever she wanted a kiss, which was quite often.

Her brown velvet coat came down to the bottom of her pretty frock, and her big brown hat was trimmed with soft, fluffy plumes. Her bright hair was braided in two long tails and tied with soft, wide ribbons. Altogether she was such a comfortable roly-poly of a girl, that it really seemed as if she might roll off like a ball should anyone give her a push.

People looking after her smiled involuntarily, as she, herself smiling, disappeared through the revolving door of the shop.

Of course the Teddy bears claimed her immediate attention. She hung over their cage, uttering little exclamations of eagerness, and delight; and the conclusion of the whole affair was that mamma selected a whole family instead of just one Teddy bear as she had at first intended.

She ordered them to be wrapped at once and carried out to the auto, and her little daughter could scarcely wait until they reached home, so eager was she to play with her new treasures.

Arrived at the house, it did not take very long to unwrap the Teddy bears and set them up, all in a row, in the wide window seat of the nursery.

There was papa bear, round and jolly, mamma bear, plump and comely, a pair of twins, so much alike that you really could not tell one from the other, and a wee, baby bear, so dear and cunning that Sally could not refrain from giving it a frantic hug and a kiss.

When bedtime came she insisted on taking the papa bear to bed with her, having first comfortably tucked up all the rest of the family in one of her dolls’ cribs, much to the discomfiture of the doll to whom it belonged; for she was left neglected to sit up all night by herself in a corner of the sofa.

For a while everything was very quiet in the nursery. The night light burned dimly in its pretty vase of rosy crystal, showing Sally as she lay fast asleep and breathing softly, the braids of her bright hair lying loosely on the pillow, and one little plump hand holding fast the Teddy bear’s soft and somewhat resisting paw.

But presently something under the bedclothes stirred at first gently, then more vigorously. A little moving heap edged its way out from under the sheets and blankets, and a queer little brown figure in pink striped pajamas shook itself free and stood up by Sally’s pillow. The papa bear was wide awake, ready for action and very anxious to explore his new surroundings.

Besides being very much awake, he was beginning to develop a rousing appetite, for of necessity he had been forced to fast since the night previous, when he and his family had feasted royally at the candy counter in Schwartz’s.

Very cautiously he swung himself to the floor and trotted over to the crib that contained his family. They were all wide awake and all as hungry as hunters. Like the good provider that every father of a family should be, papa bear immediately set out on a voyage of discovery.

The nursery door was open, but the room beyond in which Dr. and Mrs. North slept was so dark and quiet that Mr. Bear resolved to confine his still-hunt to the nursery.

Round and round he trotted, sniffing at everything which looked as if it might be good to eat. Several times he was cruelly deceived and presented in turn to his rapacious family a fat, red tomato that proved to be stuffed with sawdust and full of little shining, sharp-pointed things, that he later found out were called pins; a beautiful red-cheeked pear that turned out to be made of wax, and a bunch of plump purple grapes that had, in the beginning, been destined to adorn nurse’s best bonnet, and were in consequence singularly dry and unappetizing.

Farther investigation, however, was rewarded by the discovery of a box of delicious champagne wafers, put away on the closet shelf for Sally’s especial delectation. Delighted with this find, the hungry bears soon emptied the box, which Mrs. Bear immediately utilized as a seat for the baby cub.

Having thus satisfied his own appetite, and leaving his family comfortably chewing, papa bear now started forth on a tour of investigation. He had learned a thing or two during his stay in the department store, and one of them was that if a place is dark and you wish to light it up, the very easiest way to do so is to press a little button in the wall. So he trotted around the nursery, carefully looking along the wall for such a button. Before very long he found it, close to Sally’s bed and quite within his reach if he climbed up on the pillow, which he was not at all slow to do.

And then, in less time than it takes to tell it, his brown paw was fumbling with a button and in a second the room was flooded with brilliant light.

This so annoyed the night light that she flew into a temper and immediately went out, which, however, did not make the smallest difference as far as anybody else was concerned.

Mr. Teddy Bear was so overjoyed by the success of his experiment that he immediately began to dance a jig, and all the other Teddy bears promptly followed his example.

They were all feeling fine after their luscious meal, and no doubt also felt the need of some exercise, as they had been asleep for at least twenty-four hours.

Mrs. Bear had espied a doll’s piano and immediately sat down at it and commenced to play a waltz. Now a bear’s idea of waltz music is not just what boys and girls would consider very musical; besides which Mrs. Bear had never touched a piano before in all her life. However, her ear was tolerably correct and the result of her efforts was more than satisfactory to her admiring family.

By this time the rest of the toys were awake and the bears were delighted to discover several old friends from Schwartz’s.

Merrier and merrier grew the music and faster and faster waxed the dance, as all the toys immediately seized upon the nearest partners and whirled them off to trip the light fantastic.

A truly comical sight it was to see the baby bear waltzing with the French doll whose place in bed he had usurped, while the twins led off, one with a jolly round-eyed rag doll who had come all the way from London, as she proudly informed her partner, and the other with a wooden soldier, who had lost one leg and consequently hopped about in a most absurd manner; the twin, however, being far too polite to discard him for a more acceptable partner, kept on dancing until the wooden soldier was obliged to stop from sheer exhaustion.

Suddenly a sound from the bed caused everyone to look in that direction. And what did they see but Sally, wide awake and staring at them with eyes full of perplexity and amazement.