Johnny Blossom’s Christmas Presents
MY, oh, my! Tomorrow would be the day before Christmas and Johnny
Blossom hadn’t thought about a single present yet, for any one. He would
have to hurry now, though after all he wasn’t in such a bad fix, for he
had some money—fifty cents, in fact—and that was surely enough and to
spare.
He ought to give twelve Christmas presents in all: to Father and Mother,
three sisters, both the maids, Jeremias the wood-cutter, Uncle Isaac of
Kingthorpe, Miss Melling (Uncle’s housekeeper), Miss Jorgensen, who
stayed with them last summer, and Tellef, his special boy friend.
This wasn’t the first year he had given presents, no, indeed! He had
given some last year and the year before, but then Mother had helped
him. This year he was going to plan them all by himself. Not a single
person, not even Mother, should get the least idea of any of the
presents beforehand.
After all, should he give Miss Jorgensen a present or not? Miss Melling
there was no question about. She was always giving him presents, and she
wasn’t the worst person in the world, even if she was so fussy about
boys wiping their feet. The last time he was at Kingthorpe she had given
him a silver pencil holder without any reason whatever! It wasn’t his
birthday or anything. Yes, he would certainly give her something—that
was settled.
The hardest to find presents for were Uncle Isaac and Jeremias. Poor
Jeremias was sick now; he had been in bed for a whole month with pains
in his back and everywhere. Johnny Blossom had been to his house to see
him every day that he had thought of it, and that was almost every day.
Jeremias lay there alone all day long, except that Maria Kopp went in
morning and evening to look after him a little. It was easy enough to
get into the little house, for it was never locked. Any one could lift
the latch and step in; then the thing to do was to get Jeremias a dipper
of water and to fix up the fire. Jeremias would say, “Thank you kindly,
sir” (he always said that), and then Johnny Blossom would dash out,
fastening the door again with only the heavy old latch.
At home that day they had been baking the Christmas cakes. Johnny
Blossom had eaten not a little of the raw dough, and his sister Asta and
he had made some cakes of remarkable shapes (though rather dingy from
much handling), which they were allowed to bake.
It was while they were busy with the cakes that it had dawned upon
Johnny Blossom that there was no time to spare, and that he must decide
upon his presents at once.
The present for Father was an easy matter. The ruler that Johnny had
just finished in the sloyd class was exactly the thing; and Mother
should have the knife box. Carve their names nicely on the things, and
those two presents would be ready.
Then he would make—h’m—seven baskets of pretty colored paper and fill
them with peppermint drops. Everybody liked peppermint drops.
This left only Uncle Isaac and Jeremias and Tellef, and there would be
about twenty cents to spend on their presents. Oh, yes! He could manage
very well.
Suddenly he had a brilliant idea. That beautiful frame that he had
carved in the autumn, he would give that to Uncle Isaac, with a pretty
card on which he would write: “A hearty Christmas greeting from an
affectionate boy. Johnny Blossom.”
Jeremias should also have a beautiful card, but that would have to have
a frame of paper pasted round it. And on the card there should be a text
from the Bible, because Jeremias was so awfully fond of texts. If he
could only find the right one! At first he thought he should have to ask
his mother, but decided that he would choose one all by himself.
There! he had it! Not that he was altogether sure of its being a text
exactly, but it was so beautiful! Then Johnny Blossom, with his head on
one side, his little snub nose almost touching the paper, wrote, with
extraordinary slowness, because the writing was to be so very, very
good:
_God will never, never forsake thee._
Pshaw! That was always the way! The more pains you took, the worse was
the writing. Some of the letters were awfully small and crooked and
others were too big; and the whole thing slanted down hill so that there
was scarcely room for his name underneath in the corner; and of course
his name must be there.
Well, there was nothing to do about it. He had no more cards so he
should have to use this. With a dark brown paper frame and a red cord it
would not be so bad after all. Johnny Blossom put his head first on one
side and then on the other and scrutinized the card as a whole. No, it
really was not bad.
For Tellef he would buy some dates—they were so good—and with this
settled, all his presents were planned.
* * * * *
On the day before Christmas, big, soft snowflakes drifted slowly down
from a lowering gray sky. The snow melted as soon as it fell, and from
the sea a raw, wet wind came whining in; but there might have been worse
weather, and Johnny Blossom, at any rate, was well content. He was going
out to distribute his presents today. It was so pleasant to take them
himself to the different persons.
First he went to Miss Jorgensen’s, for she lived nearest, in her own
tiny white house. She was in the kitchen washing dishes when Johnny
Blossom’s little nose showed itself at the kitchen door.
[Illustration:
JOHNNY BLOSSOM’S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
]
“Well, well! Is it you?”
Yes, it was he, and would she accept a little Christmas present? Johnny
Blossom held out to her the fancy paper basket filled with peppermint
drops.
“Set it down somewhere—my hands are wet. I never eat peppermint candy,
but I thank you all the same. Is every one well at home?”
“Yes, very well.”
Johnny Blossom took his leave in some disappointment. Miss Jorgensen
wasn’t a bit nice—she was simply horrid. Oh, well, he didn’t mind.
Anyway, she couldn’t say that no one had given her a Christmas present.
Johnny Blossom went on to Jeremias the wood-cutter’s. The wind blew
straight into the room the minute the door was opened, and Jeremias
groaned. He looked awfully old today. Very gray indeed was his stubby
beard and very dull were his eyes as he lay there on his blue pillow.
“Have you come to see me in all this bad weather?” said Jeremias.
“This is delightful weather,” said Johnny Blossom, although just then
another wild gust of wind made Jeremias’s little house shake violently.
“Here is a Christmas present for you,” said John. “It is to hang on the
wall so you can see it, Jeremias. Isn’t it pretty?”
“Yes, indeed, that’s a fine piece of work!”
“Did it all myself,” said Johnny Blossom, with some pride.
“Well, well! You do know how to make things!” said Jeremias admiringly.
A nail was driven in the wall near the one that held the big silver
watch, and the Christmas present was hung on it at once in plain sight.
“God will never, never forsake thee,” read Jeremias as his crooked old
finger pointed along the slanting line. “There is balm in those words,
Johnny Blossom,” he said slowly.
Old people were queer, thought John, for “balm” was something that was
used for wounds—he knew that very well—and yet there lay Jeremias and
said that there was balm in those words, “God will never, never forsake
thee.”
“Yes,” said Johnny Blossom, for he saw that Jeremias expected him to
answer.
It really looked very pretty hanging there on the wall.
“How do they manage about the wood at your house nowadays?” asked
Jeremias.
“Oh, very well,” replied John. Then he happened to think that Jeremias
might be disappointed to hear that it made no difference whether he was
able to look after the wood or not, so Johnny added quickly, “Mother
says that they don’t split the wood fine enough.”
Jeremias was plainly enlivened. “There! Isn’t that what I have always
said!” he exclaimed. “Wood should be split just so. Kindlings ought to
be light and pleasant and coquettish to make the fire dance.”
“Yes,” said Johnny Blossom.
What a great one Jeremias was to use queer words!
“Well, Merry Christmas, Jeremias!”
“Thank you kindly, sir. It won’t be lonesome now that I have that to
look at,” and his crooked finger pointed up to the little brown paper
frame hanging by its red cord.
John now started on his way to Kingthorpe. One of his pockets was
weighted down with a big cornucopia of dates, for he planned to drop in
at Tellef’s on his way home; and from another pocket protruded the
greater portion of the frame he was to present to Uncle Isaac.
Kingthorpe was quiet and stately and a little awe-inspiring as usual.
Miss Melling had gone to town and Uncle Isaac was ill in bed. After a
little thought, Johnny Blossom sent the frame in to his uncle by the
servant, with his best Christmas wishes. The servant was in livery and
always carried a silver tray in his hand. Even when Uncle Isaac had
nothing but gruel, he had it on a silver tray!
Johnny Blossom was nearly out of the grounds on his way home when the
servant came running after him to tell him that his uncle wanted him.
Johnny turned back with great delight. He had known well enough that
Uncle Isaac would wish to see him after receiving such a beautiful
present.
Uncle Isaac lay in the big carved bedstead. My, oh, my! how pale he was!
almost as pale as Jeremias the wood-cutter.
“Sit here beside me,” said Uncle Isaac. “Thank you very much for this
beautiful Christmas present.” The frame stood on a table near the bed.
“Yes, but you mustn’t look at that corner, for there’s a tiny piece off
there; nor right there either; and here it is badly carved, as you see,
Uncle Isaac. But if you hold it like this and just look at the
whole—why, it isn’t so bad,” said Johnny Blossom, beaming.
“I will remember,” said Uncle Isaac. “I am to hold it sideways and just
get the general view when I look at it.”
“The writing might have been nicer, too,” said Johnny apologetically,
“but I had such a scratchy, bad pen.”
“I like it very much just as it is,” replied Uncle Isaac.
There came a little pause. Johnny felt somewhat abashed and scarcely
knew what to talk about.
“Jeremias the wood-cutter is ill in bed, too,” he said suddenly.
“Is that one of your acquaintances?”
“Yes. I know him very well. I go in to see him almost every day.”
“Tell me a little about him.”
“He has pains in his back—right there—tearing his back to pieces, he
says; and he lies there alone all day except when Maria Kopp or I go to
see to him. His house is never locked; any one can go right in. I’ve
just been there with a Christmas present for him.”
“What did you give him, little John?”
“A Bible text in a frame and with a cord to hang it by. This was the
text, ‘God will never, never forsake thee.’”
“And was he pleased?”
“Yes, he said it was _balm_.”
“Did he say that?” And the wonderful, far-seeing expression that Johnny
Blossom could never understand came over Uncle Isaac’s face.
“The wood-cutter is right. It is balm,” said Uncle Isaac finally.
Well! Here lay Uncle Isaac with the green silk eiderdown puff, with the
servant in livery always carrying a silver tray; and there lay Jeremias
the wood-cutter on his blue homespun pillow, with the wind howling at
his very bedside—and both of them said that there was balm in those
words! Johnny Blossom thought it was very queer.
“Some presents will go over to your house this evening,” said Uncle
Isaac when he said good-by.
My, oh, my! Johnny Blossom hopped over every gutter he came to on his
way home. First over the gutter and then back again and over again just
because everything was so unspeakably joyful, because it was Christmas
Eve, because Uncle Isaac was going to send some presents. They were sure
to be wonderful presents, those Uncle Isaac sent!
He met Tellef’s littlest sister on the street.
“See here!” he said to her; “here is a Christmas present for Tellef; but
just as surely as you meddle the least bit with the paper, I’ll send a
snowball right through your head. So now you know what to expect.”
The little girl went straight into the house holding the cornucopia of
dates stiffly with both hands, while Johnny Blossom, with snowball
ready, stood and watched her.
No, she didn’t meddle with the package at all. Everything had gone well.
Johnny Blossom took careful aim and sent the snowball flying toward the
flagstaff at his own home.
The church bells began to ring, ushering in the holy tide. Christmas
Eve! Oh, he must hurry, hurry home!
Bim! Boom! How the great bells chimed!
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