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LOCAL COLUMN
A CHRISTMAS GIFT. - "Mr. Twain - compliments of Miss Chase - Christmas, 1863." This handwriting disposed us to suspect treachery, and to regard the box as a deadly infernal machine. It was on this account that we got a stranger to open it. This precaution was un necessary. The diabolical box had nothing in it but a ghastly, naked, porcelain doll baby. However, we are much obliged - we always had a hankering to have a baby, and now we are satisfied - the mythical "Miss Chase" helped us to the business, and she has our cordial thanks for her share in it.
[reprinted in
The Works of Mark Twain; Early Tales & Sketches, Vol. 1 1851-1864,
(Univ. of California Press, 1979), p. 420.]
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