Once the little boy who had the tricycle thought he would like to take the Toy-Lady a present. His mother had hung a piece of holly on the front door of his home; there were three wreaths in the parlor windows for the Three Wise Men who came to see Jesus, and one beautiful little wreath in the nursery window for the Baby Jesus Himself. So, the little boy thought it would be nice if the Toy-Lady had a branch of holly to hang on the Toy Shop door. He asked Cook to give him the holly, but he did not tell her or anyone else what he was going to do with it. But when he went out to ride on his tricycle Christmas afternoon, he took the bunch of holly and started off to the Toy Shop.
He did not have far to go, but when he got to the Shop, nobody was there. The windowshade was pulled down, and the door was closed and locked!
Right in the middle of the door, there was a square of white cardboard with something printed on it, but the little boy could not read it. He stood looking at it and feeling sad and lonely. The Toy Shop closed! Why, he didn’t know what to think or do!
But while he was still on the steps, a big jolly policeman passed, and as soon as he saw the closed door and the little boy with the holly, he knew what the trouble was. “Never you fear, little man,” said he. “The Toy-Lady, God bless her, has gone to spend the day with her grandchildren, but she’ll come back. ‘Open tomorrow.’ That’s what the card says. We’ll just be hanging the bit of holly on the door for a surprise to her in the morning. What do you say?”
The little boy said, ‘All right”; and he began to feel happier.
“She’ll see it the first thing,” he said when the holly was tied to the door-latch with a piece of string from the policeman’s pocket. The little boy thought the green leaves and red berries looked beautiful there.
“I’m glad the door will be open tomorrow. Aren’t you?” he asked as he got on his tricycle again.
“I am, for a fact,” said the big jolly policeman. “There’s many a thing that we could do without and never miss, but I don’t know whatever the children would do without the Toy Shop.”
