hoop; some parts of it were light and some dark, some very beautiful and
some almost ugly. Yet the darkest, ugliest spots upon it were
illuminated and glorified by brilliant flashes of what looked like
lightning playing around the hoop. When Ruth held the object this
singular brightness would flame up into her face. It didn't hurt. It
fascinated her. She felt like sitting down and watching every change.
The words underneath the circle read, "Experience is the best teacher."
She spelled it out, then her eyes beamed with delight. "It's the very
thing that Elizabeth needs. I was afraid you couldn't give it to her. I
have heard it was hard to pass on experience to other people. Now
Elizabeth can run the house and mother can travel. That will be real
jolly."
"Here is something for Susie," cried Ruth, as she put down Elizabeth's
package, and took up the next one. "It's a cup made of--of--of--why,
isn't that queer?--made of wishes. This is the first time I ever really
saw a wish. Now, Susie always teases for the wish-bone. And here's a cup
made, not of wish-bones, but of wishes. I wonder if she can drink out of
it. She's always telling how 'thursday' she is. We're sometimes afraid
she'll drink the well dry. Why, the cup is full of something. It
sparkles. 'A Draught of Bliss.' That's what it says under the cup. I
know what that means. It means to feel as good as one can feel. Well,
I'm glad she's going to have it. If the cup spills over we'll catch some
of the drops. And if she feels good we'll all feel better." Thus wisely
remarked the child to the pictures.
The next package had a dream wrapped up in it. You never saw anything
more curious. It was as light as a feather, as bright as a button, as
sweet as a rose, as gay as a lark, as true as steel, as deep as the sea,
as high as heaven, as wise as an owl, as you like it. It had all the
hues of the rainbow. It was as odd as Dick's hatband. It went floating
against the blue sky. It dipped down into several sunsets as you see
swallows dip down or fly up when a storm is coming. It seemed well
suited to Nathaniel, the humming-bird sort of a boy. And there were the
letters in shotted light over against the gloom, N,A,T,H,A,N,I,E,L.
"Dear little Nathaniel," said Ruth, as she handled the dream carefully,
putting it back in its wrappings of nothing, and tying it up again with
blue sky, sunsets, and rainbows all mixed together. "Won't he be
surprised to see a real dream, and carry it all around town to show
folks. And it's a good dream, a nice dream, I know. I can tell by
touching it and feeling of it all over."
The next package was a large one; and it was for Grace, although she
was not one of the largest girls. It was shaped like a triangle, and
when you took hold of it the thing seemed to stretch bigger and bigger.
"What can it be, I wonder," mused Ruth. And then looking keenly through
the nothing that covered it, she discovered that there were a great many
little, charming, luminous objects packed into the package. They were
different shapes and colors and sizes. But every one of them was
pleasant to the touch, alluring to the eye, and melodious to the ear.
Whether each one contained a music-box or not, it was impossible to say,
but strains of angelic songs kept escaping. It reminded Ruth of Henry's
"Music in the Soul." Underneath the triangular box she read these words:
"A fine Assortment of Generous Impulses. Warranted Pure." The big words
she skipped, except the two, generous impulses. She knew them at once,
for she had heard her father say a great deal on that subject.
"Judge, it's very good of you to send these dear, blessed things to
Grace. I'm perfectly sure she'll divide up and give every one of us as
many as we like. I should think there might be a hundred in the box. I'm
a-going to climb right up here on the piano and kiss both of you." And
she did; and she carried the generous impulses with her when she did it.
When Ruth jumped down on the floor again she examined Miriam's package.
It held a star, a real star. The man in the moon brought it down from
the sky.
"Isn't this wonderful beyond anything!" exclaimed the child. "How many
times we've said 'Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you
are,' and now here you are." The little, shrewd, cunning fellow sparkled
and glistened so that Ruth's eyes ached in spite of her green goggles.
He seemed a very intelligent creature. He could almost talk.
"I heard father say something about plucking the stars from heaven the
other day, and then he repeated something about the stars growing cold.
This star isn't cold, I know. And there's his name down at the bottom.
'A Star of Hope.' Hope so. Now Miriam will be proud enough. We shall see
her going around with her star. I've heard about babies being born under
some star or other. I see now how they could get under. Judge, will
Miriam be a star herself now? Do you think she will star it? 'Star of
Hope.' This beats me."
Ethel's present was next. The package was so bright that it was
impossible to tell the shape of it. From every direction the light rayed
forth in dazzling brilliancy.
"I'm sure it is a box of glory," cried Ruth. The writing underneath the
shining, beautiful thing said "Sunshine."
"Haven't we been singing 'Rise, Shine?' How lovely it will be to have
Ethel go about the house scattering sunshine! What strange stuff it is!"
As she said this Ruth took a handful of it out of the package and
examined it very closely. "It keeps slipping out of the hands and
dropping down to the floor or rising up to the wall. Dear me! how shall
I get it back?" She chased it in ten ways at the same time. "But I can't
catch it," she continued; "and see, there is quite as much of it left as
there was in my hands and the box before it floated away. Oh! won't this
be nice on rainy days? We can have the house filled with sunshine, even
if it does rain, and the sky is black with clouds. I do think I never
saw such elegant, wonderful presents in all my life, and I don't believe
any other children in all this world ever got such things as we have for
our Christmas."
The next present was for William. As Ruth looked at it she seemed lost
in thought. She was studying it out. There wasn't any shape to the
thing. The package itself didn't have any shape. It was a beautiful mass
of light. Yet the longer you looked at it, the more lovely, attractive,
and real it appeared. Finally it did take a shape; and when you made up
your mind that it was round or square or octagonal or irregular or
something else, the shapeliness of the thing vanished.
"I wonder if it's a thought?" the child said to herself. "I've often
thought I'd like to see what a thought looks like. I hear so much about
thought and thoughts, that I'm real curious. Father told mother the
other day that I was a very thoughtful child. If I'm thought_ful_, seems
to me I ought to see a good many or feel 'em." Then she looked down
under the package, and read, "A Bundle of I,D,E,A,L,S."
"Why, I don't see any bundle," she exclaimed. But that moment the mass
of light changed into strands of willowy brightness, and she could see
there was a neat little bundle of these shining threads. She took the
bundle into her hands and pulled out one. This first strand was straight
as an arrow, and there suddenly showed itself at the bottom of it a
chain of letters. The strand of splendor, in fact, appeared to grow out
of these letters. They were M,A,N,L,I,N,E,S,S. The letters were made in
quaint forms, and they were indescribably beautiful. Ruth pulled out
another strand from the bundle. This seemed larger and more solid than
the first, and quite as precious. Letters soon formed into a chain at
the lower end, and these were W,O,R,T,H. She pulled out the third
strand. It seemed almost alive, being in constant motion. The chain of
letters beneath it was as follows: S,E,R,V,I,C,E. A fourth strand had
the letters H,O,N,O,R entwined about one end. And there were many other
similar strands. Ruth had on her thinking-cap (made of nothing
particular, and trimmed with everything in general) all the time that
she was examining them. Of a sudden the word "Ideals" struck her.
"I know now what these bright, lovely things are," she cried. "I've
heard father preach about them, and he has told us children I think
hundreds of times. He says we must all have them, and have the best too.
Why didn't you think of it before? Judge, you're just as good as you can
be." Ruth was talking to the pictures. "Father and mother will be very
thankful that you have brought all these into the family. I know what an
Ideal is. It's what you want to be, and try to be. Haven't I heard
Samuel and Elizabeth and the older ones talk about high ideals?" As she
spoke she shook the radiant little bundle, and saw all sorts of great,
noble men and fine, lovely women spring right out of the brightness,
taking form before her face and eyes. "I do declare that looks like
William." She was gazing at one of the tiny, luminous faces that
appeared against the shadows. "We shall all pop into the light like
that, I expect. That must be what father calls attaining one's Ideal.
Isn't it grand? Yes, there come the other children. One springs out of
one Ideal, and another out of another. It's just like a fairy tale. But
I never dreamed what curious things Ideals were. How rich we shall be?"
Then Ruth gathered the Ideals together, and put them back where she
found them.
The next present was for her mother. It was resting on an air-cushion
in a casket of love. It seemed to Ruth that the sun and moon and a good
many stars had got into that package. It took more rainbows than you can
shake a stick at to tie up the package securely, so that nothing could
get to it. The present was a crown, and underneath were the words "A
Mother's Jewels." There were fifteen of them, no two alike. The crown
was a cloud with a silver lining. Ruth took it in her hands, and putting
it on her head, felt the light running all down her head and over her
face. It wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. But the top of the crown
was the most wonderful. All the fifteen jewels studded it, so that, as
one wore it, anybody standing by would almost think that the brightest
lights in the heavens had been borrowed, and wrought into this
head-dress. And each jewel had a name all about it, the letters being
made of the very smallest stars that you can find out of doors. The
child was too astonished and delighted to talk as she examined this
gift. She put it back in its casket without one word. It took her
breath away, so that she couldn't say anything.
By the side of this package was one for her father. She was glad to turn
to it, for it was not so splendid and marvellous that it dumfounded her.
His package had a bottle in it.
"I believe it's made of forget-me-nots," said Ruth. She took it into her
hands, and found it was woven like basket work, a sort of wicker bottle.
Only the stems of the plants were so intertwisted that the blossoms all
came to the outside. But both stems and blossoms were perfectly
transparent, so you could see straight through into the inside.
"E,S,S,E,N,C,E of C,H,E,E,R,F,U,L,N,E,S,S. To be taken eternally." This
was written beneath, and Ruth spelled the two big words slowly. "I know
what that means," she continued. "The Judge is going to give father some
more sense. For essence, of course, is only another kind of sense. Oh! I
forgot the essence man. He brings us peppermint and vanilla and cologne.
We season things, and make ourselves smell good. Now, that's what
you've sent to father, isn't it? Essence of Cheerfulness. You want him
to season things with cheerfulness, don't you, and make himself and all
the rest of us fragrant? And he'll do it. He's always saying that we
ought to be cheerful. But what kind of stuff is it?" and Ruth tipped up
the bottle to taste of its contents. She smacked her lips and beamed
with delight. "I do believe it's a spirit. Father says, you can't see
spirit but you can feel it. I can't see anything but light in that
bottle, but I can feel something all through me. I must dance a little,
I feel so good. Oh, dear me! that's the way people sometimes act when
they've drunk from bad bottles. But I can't help it." She caught her
skirts in each hand, and airily waltzed up and down the room.
"I must see if the mantle is here," she suddenly exclaimed. "How strange
that I've just thought of it!" And then she stopped to look at the
baby's present.
"It can't be that the Judge's mantle would go into such a little
package as that." So Ruth remarked as she took the tiny thing in hand.
It was tied with the most brilliant sunset that eyes ever saw. The
streamers attached to the bow were much bigger than the package itself.
When Ruth undid it, and held the singular object before her eyes, it
seemed to grow large and long. It was truly the Judge's mantle. As she
shook it out, and let its folds drop down to the floor, the pictures
fairly beamed with glory. "Silver threads among the gold," exclaimed the
child, as the beauteous garment flashed its splendors into her eyes. For
the warp was the pure gold of character, while the woof was the fine
silver of influence. And they were woven into a fabric of surpassing
richness. Then this matchless weaving was covered with fairest
embroidery. Every color that imagination ever conceived appeared upon
the garment. There was the white light of truth, the red of sacrifice,
the purple of royalty, the greens of fresh life, the pink of propriety,
the red that you see in a green blackberry, the blue of a minister's
Monday, and true blue, auburn from a child's head, hazel from a child's
eyes, black as thunder cloud, pale as death, the lemon of lemon ice,
orange from orangeade, and a great many others. And these colors were
worked into words, flowers of rhetoric, scenes indeed, pictures of love,
kindness, wisdom, and peace. It was also adorned with quite a number of
gems of poetry, and it had a pearl of great price to fasten it at the
throat.
The first thing which Ruth did was to try it on, but it dragged on the
floor. It occurred to her that the baby must wait until he was grown up
before it fitted him. Still, she tried it on the baby. No sooner did she
wrap it around him than it seemed to shrink to his size.
"Why, we can use it for a winter coat," she said. And the "Little
Judge," who had fallen asleep before the fire, where he had crawled with
Turk and the cat, cooed and laughed when the mantle was wrapped about
him, seeming to feel that it was the very thing that would make him
happy and comfortable. All the time that Ruth was handling the magic
thing, it continued to throw off little points of light and countless
mites of color, and these settled down on the furniture and carpet and
the curtains and the walls and the ceiling, until the room was like a
palace studded with twinkling, shifting, radiant stars; and every
present on the piano was shining and scattering light, the air being
filled with music, and Ruth was wild with delight and excitement.
[Illustration]
The next thing was to carry the gifts to the stockings where they
belonged. Wherever she went, there was the brightness of noonday, so she
never had a fear. Even the closet with the skeleton in it did not make
her tremble. Beginning with father and mother, she visited every
stocking, and put each gift in its proper place; then she carried the
baby to bed, and left Turk and Satan snuggled up together in front of
the fire; and then it seemed to her that she floated away in a sea of
light; and then mounting upon the wings of the wind, she suddenly met
the sand man who pushed her into the Land of Nod.
The last that she remembered was blue sky, gems of poetry, rainbows,
shooting stars, flowers of rhetoric, strains of music, sunsets, closets,
stockings, Christmas cheer, sunshine, and a great many other things, all
standing around the type-writer in her father's study, telling the
machine what to say, and begging that everything might be set down in a
book and live forever.
E.
HAPPY DAY.
E.
HAPPY DAY.
NOW, when it grew toward morning Ruth awakened first, and what did she
do but jump out of bed and feel of her stocking; the thing which she
found was a book, and she knew without looking into it that the book
told all about the Judge and the pictures, the house and the children,
and the strange things that had happened on this eventful night.
Later there was the sound of many voices, scores of "I wish you a merry
Christmas," went flying through the air, carols burst upon the ear, and
a whole host of happy, loving children shifted from one room to another,
and finally gathered beneath the pictures of the Judge and his lady. Did
the good man lift his hands in benediction? Did he beam with the joy of
the Christ-life? The light was rather dim in the parlor, for it was
early in the morning. But the children were constantly turning their
eyes to the portraits. It seemed to them that new life throbbed within
their souls, that grand purposes had been awakened, that charity and
tenderness, the love of God and the love of one another, were moving to
all kinds of well-doing. They felt as never before that they were living
in the home of this great, good man, and that they must go forth into
the world as his manly and womanly representatives. Peace not only
filled the house, but it rested upon them. It was the most joyful day of
all the years. Never a quarrel darkened a heart. Never a harsh word fell
from any lips. Never a mean thought rose in their breasts. It was real
Christmas cheer. And I believe that every child of them was made richer
by the blessed presence (presents) of the Judge and his lady.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Repeated chapter titles were retained as some were laid out differently
than at the chapter itself.
Page 58, "Clause" changed to "Claus" (as Santa Claus)
Page 71, "to" changed to "too" (think so too)
Page 88, "bookcase" changed to "book-case" to match rest of usage in
text (a low book-case beneath)
Page 95, extraneous quotation mark removed before (I'll call 'Greece')
Page 109, "surpressed" changed to "suppressed" (with suppressed
excitement)
Page 145, "everthing" changed to "everything" (everything under the sun)
Page 152, single closing quotation mark changed to double (and use
them?")
Page 192, closing quotation mark added (it means.")
Page 201, closing quotation mark added (is!" As she said this)