Before the earliest Ruggles could wake and toot his five-cent tin horn, Mrs. Ruggles was up and stirring about the house, for it was a gala day in the family. All nine of her children were invited to a dinner party at the Birds' great house! She had been preparing for this grand occasion ever since the invitation came, which now was in an old photograph frame hanging under the looking glass in the most prominent place in the kitchen, where any visitor would see it.
Dear Mrs. Ruggles,
I am going to have a dinner party on Christmas Day, and would like to have all your children come. I want everyone, please, from Sara Maud to Baby Larry. Mamma says dinner will be at half past five, and the Christmas tree at seven; so you may expect them home at nine o'clock. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I am yours truly,
Carol Bird
As soon as breakfast was over, Mrs. Ruggles announced the plan of action: "Now, Susan, you and Kitty wash up the dishes so I can get to cutting out Larry's new suit. I'm not satisfied with his clothes, and I thought in the night of a way to make him a dress out of my old red plaid shawl - kind of Scotch style, you know, with the fringe at the bottom.
"Eily, you go find the comb and take the snarls out of the fringe. You little boys clear out from under foot. Clem, you and Con hop into bed with Larry while I wash your underclothes; it won't take long for them to dry... Yes, I know it's bothersome, but you can't go into society without taking some trouble,....Sarah Maud, I think it would be perfectly handsome if you ripped them brass buttons off your uncle's policeman’s coat and sewed them in a row up the front of your green skirt. Susan, you must iron out yours and Kitty's aprons.
"Now, you young ones that aren't doing anything, play all you want to before noontime, and then Sarah Maud and me are going to give you such a washing and combing and dressing as you never had before, and then I'm going to set you down and give you two solid hour's training in manners."
"All we've got to do's go eat," grumbled Peter.
"Well, that's enough," responded his mother. "There's more than one way of eating, let me tell you."
The big Ruggleses worked so well, and the little Ruggleses kept from 'under foot' so successfully, that by one o'clock nine complete outfits were carefully laid out on the beds. Then they scrubbed and washed and when the clock struck four they were all clothed, and most of them in their right minds, ready for those last touches that always take the most time.
Kitty's red hair was curled in thirty-four ringlets, Sarah Maud's was braided in one pig-tail, and Susan's, Eily's, and Peoria's, in two braids apiece. Then, exciting moment, came linen collars for some and neckties and bows for others- a magnificent green glass pin was sewed into Peter's purple necktie - and Eureka! the Ruggleses were dressed!
A row of seats was then formed directly through the middle of the kitchen, and the children took their places according to age. Mrs. Ruggles seated herself in front, surveying them proudly as she wiped the sweat of honest toil from her brow.
"Well," she exclaimed, "if I do say so as I shouldn't, I never have seen a cleaner, more stylish mess of children in my life! Larry Ruggles, how many times have I got to tell you not to keep pulling at your sash? Haven't I told you if it comes untied your top and bottom will part company in the middle, and then where'll you be?
"Now, look me in the eye, all of you! I want to see how you're going to behave when you get there tonight.”
For a time they practiced entering the house, until finally Mrs. Ruggles was satisfied.
"Now, if they have napkins, Sarah Maud down to Peory may put them in their laps, and the rest of you can tuck yours in your necks. Don't eat with your fingers, don't grab no vittles off one another's plates, don't reach out for nothing, but wait till you're asked, and if you never get asked don't get up and grab it... Don't spill nothing on the tablecloth, or like as not Mrs. Bird will send you away from the table, and I hope she will if you do!
“Be polite, and remember, it ain't so much what you say, as the way you say it. Eily, you and Larry are too little to train, so you just look at the rest, and do what they do, and the Lord have mercy on you and help you to act decent. Now is there anything more you'd like to practice?"
"If you tell me one more thing, I can't set up to eat," said Peter, gloomily; "I'm so cram full of manners now I'm ready to bust, without no dinner at all!"
"Oh, don't fret," said their mother good-naturedly, "I guess you'll get along. Remember, don't all talk at once, Susan, lend your handkerchief to Peory. Peter, don't keep wiggling yer tiepin. Cornelius, hold your head up straight, and Sarah Maud, don't take your eyes off Larry, and Larry, you keep hold of Sarah Maud and do just as she says."
And with that, the Ruggles children trooped out their back door, through the yard, and to the Birds' big house and the most wonderful Christmas party they ever attended.
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