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OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE 
 
 A TRAVELLERS STORY 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD EVERETT HALE 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, 
 
 By FUNK & WAGNALLS, 
 b tke Office of the Librarian 01 Congress at Washington, D. C. 
 
PS 
 
 m A- 
 H 
 
 THE admirable story of " Christmas in Cooney 
 Camp," included in this volume, is kindly given 
 me by my friend, Mr. Collingwood, who describes in it 
 what he has seen and heard. It has never been pub 
 lished before. The other stories and sketches are my 
 own. 
 
 EDWARD E. HALE. 
 
 ROXBURY, MASS., Oct. i, 1883. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Theodora Bourn and Jane Marhill 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Paul Decker and Theodora Bourn 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Snow-bound Nahum Barrow's Revenge 48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Paul Decker's Story Hands Off Lulu's Doll 72 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Christmas Eve 103 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Committee's Report and what followed 106 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Christmas Morning Christmas in Cooney Camp Christmas at 
 
 Valley Forge 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Hepzibah's Turkeys Ideals Nothing to Give. 175 
 
Vl CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 General Washington's Pig 246 
 
 CHAPTER THE LAST. 
 Paul Decker's Reflections Breakfast 264 
 
OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MARHILL. 
 
 " COME out and walk, Mary ; we shall have full 
 twenty minutes. The conductor says fifteen, and you 
 may be sure we shall not start till two." 
 
 Mary was glad enough to join him. As she 
 crowded by the stove and porter's seat, at the end of 
 the car, she proposed that he should ask little Black- 
 Ribbons to join them, and he did so. He went back 
 to the place where Black Ribbons was sitting alone, 
 touched his hat, and said : 
 
 " My wife is going to take a walk on the platform. 
 Will you not join us?" 
 
 They had exchanged civilities with Black Ribbons 
 before. But she was shy. They were happy in the 
 joy of their wedding journey. Her seat was " three," 
 quite at one end of the Pullman, and theirs was 
 " twenty-one to twenty-four," quite at the other. 
 Maty had offered her cold coffee at lunch and she had 
 declined. The walk, therefore, was the first successful 
 effort at anything like intimacy. 
 
 " Look there," said Hector, and he kicked with his 
 foot an ingot of silver, which lay as heavy and motion- 
 
8 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 less under the blow as if it had been spiked to the 
 plank on which they stood. " If we were dishonest, 
 we could hardly get that off all three of us. And 
 now the expressmen leave these three blocks, trust 
 ing not in our honesty, not in law or sheriff, not in any 
 All-Seeing Eye, but simply in the dead weight of 
 silver. That is the way of the world." 
 
 ' ' The way of what world ?' ' 
 
 " The way of this world. What I mean is that 
 heavy people and things people with much specific 
 gravity are let alone and prosper, as if dead weight 
 were a merit, while light and airy people like us three, 
 and elegant things like that silver when it shall have 
 been drawn into threads, and moulded into butterflies 
 for breast-pins, have to be watched and tended and 
 daintily lifted from place to place. Now, there is our 
 Caesar Ganymede, the Pullman porter, sadly looking 
 upon you now, he is so afraid you will be left, Mary." 
 
 4 You would like to go as freight ?" said Mary. 
 
 " Not quite that. For then they would lay me on 
 my back, and put two tea-chests on me, and a log of 
 red-wood on them, and these ingots of silver on them, 
 and lock the car door for ten days." 
 
 ' You would arrive breathless, like a messenger in 
 a novel." 
 
 ' Yes, and my clothes would need brushing. But 
 we might all three have been sent not as freight, but 
 as parcels, by Adams's Express. We could have been 
 tied up in brown paper, like dolls. They could have 
 marked us, ' This side up with care.' We should go 
 by ' great speed,' as they say in France. We should 
 not have to pay a cabman when we arrived in Colum 
 bus, and we should have, to spend at the theatre, all 
 the money these blessed through tickets have cost us." 
 
THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MAR HILL. 9 
 
 ' Minus what we paid the expressman." 
 
 " No, madam. For that we have provided indepen 
 dently. For the hard-earned specie which I gave to 
 yonder bloated conductor for our Pullman section, 
 and which our friend here has paid for hers, would 
 more than satisfy the greed of the express company. 
 I am tall but thin. I should not measure more than 
 six cubic feet. I should first tie up both you ladies 
 back to back, and you would not together measure 
 more than eight feet. It is not too late now. I will 
 go and speak to the express agent." 
 
 And he pretended to leave them. But at this 
 moment the train conductor touched his hat, and 
 said : " Please get on board again, sir. I shall start 
 the train a little before time. It is beginning to snow 
 above us, and my plough is at station one hundred 
 and three. I should rather be there before the snow 
 gathers." 
 
 So they tumbled into the car. But in this nonsense 
 of Hector's the ice was broken, and Mary and Black 
 Ribbons took seats twenty-three and twenty-four, 
 when they returned to the car, while Hector went 
 forward and found company in the smoking-car. 
 
 Black Ribbons proved to be going to the East for 
 the first time she could remember. Her father had 
 been a superintendent in a queer sort of mine, if you 
 may so call it, which was covered by every tide of the 
 Pacific, twice in twenty-four hours. When the waters 
 receded, they could work the gold-besprent sand. 
 When the waters gathered again, they slept, or ate, 
 or played poker, I suppose. Mining with such limi 
 tations had not rendered much profit. The child who 
 grew up in such queer surroundings was by far the best 
 dividend her father and mother had won from them. 
 
10 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 At last he had died, a disappointed man. Her mother 
 could not " boss" a gang of workmen, and had, unwill 
 ingly enough, left their not uncomfortable home by 
 the sea for the closer life of Sacramento, where she 
 had tried the doubtful career of a boarding-house 
 keeper. In a fitful way the two had kept the wolf 
 from the door for a year or more ; but that fight 
 ended with the sudden death of the widow. She had 
 left her daughter for a day and night only. The first 
 news the poor girl had was that her mother was dead. 
 The next was when the cold body was brought home. 
 Crossing the ferry from San Francisco to Oakland, the 
 steamer had come to grief. 
 
 "A slight accident," said the evening paper. 
 ' Travel was suspended only till the boat could be 
 hauled into dock and her place taken by the Golden 
 City. No person was injured, with the exception of 
 one of the passengers, a lady, name unknown. She 
 was taken to the city hospital." 
 
 She died before she arrived there, and Theodora, the 
 next day, stood at the door of her home to receive her 
 mother's dead body. 
 
 1 Yes ; everybody was kind. They were very kind. 
 I should have died, you know, if they had not been 
 kind. I had twenty homes open to me. But I could 
 not stay in them always, you know. They have all 
 helped me, all through. There are the very nicest 
 people in all the world in Sacramento. But, of course, 
 I could not keep the boarders. Mr. Flynn arranged 
 about the lease, and then they had an auction and 
 sold all our things ; that was the very worst and 
 well there have been endless letters then it was set 
 tled that I should go to my mother's brother's home 
 for this winter. His farm is in Piqua, or at least it 
 
THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MARHILL. TT 
 
 is between Piqua and Troy. Do you know any one 
 in Piqua? I heard you speak of Columbus." 
 
 No ; Mary knew nobody in Piqua. Five seconds 
 before she had not known that there was any such place 
 as Piqua in the world. But with the wisdom and con 
 fidence of the married state, as one who knew the 
 world and what was in it, she ventured to assure Mary 
 that she doubted not there were very nice people and 
 very good social order in Piqua. Her husband was an 
 Ohio man, or had friends in Ohio, and doubtless he 
 was acquainted in Piqua. 
 
 Had Theodora more experience in life, she would 
 have known, from the intonation with which Mary 
 uttered the word " husband," that she was not much 
 accustomed to its use. Indeed, there was a certain 
 importance in the tone, as if she had said " His Serene 
 Eminence," or " His Royal Majesty," as if this 
 husband was distinct from all the other husbands, 
 and as if Theodora of course knew the distinction. 
 The truth was that he was a husband of four days 
 and one hour's standing, and Mary had had no occa 
 sion to call him by his official title till this moment. 
 
 As for his having " friends in Ohio," it was true that 
 Douglas, one of his college friends, lived in Columbus, 
 and had asked the bride and bridegroom to visit him 
 on their way to their home in Penn Yan. But Mary 
 wanted to put as bright a face on things as she could do. 
 
 In such confidences, the two girls hardly noticed 
 how the snow closed in around them. Little they 
 heeded it, indeed, that the train arrived at one hun 
 dred and three an hour and twenty minutes after time. 
 
 Hector bustled in then, and said : " Now we are all 
 right ; we have our snow-plough, and they say there 
 is less snow after we cross the next divide." 
 
12 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE, 
 
 : All right ! has anything been wrong ?" 
 ' Oh, no not wrong, you know ; only we are a 
 
 little late here. Snow clogged under the drivers. 
 
 Road very rough. But it is all over now. We shall 
 
 make up the time before we come to the Junction. 
 And then he gave Mary a chance to ask him whom 
 
 he knew at Troy or at Piqua. 
 
 Theodora Bourn, the young girl whom they had 
 called Black Ribbons, felt that the world was a new 
 world after the bride and bridegroom had admitted 
 her into their little travelling party. She had left 
 Sacramento not quite alone. A Mr. Wilcox, who was 
 going east, had been made to say that he would see 
 to her. But even before they arrived at Ogden, Mr. 
 Wilcox had broken down with a headache so heavy and 
 a pulse so high, that a jury of passengers had pro 
 nounced unanimously that he must stop there, and 
 Theodora had found that he was in her charge not 
 she in his. The poor man had been able to hunt up a 
 business correspondent in Ogden, and with the large 
 and cheerful hospitality of the West, the people sum 
 moned had made him comfortable enough. But after 
 this ill-omened beginning, Black Ribbons, who would 
 have known herself better as Theodora Bourn, was 
 taken to the New York Express, and found herself in 
 seat number three of the Pullman, with the prospect of 
 three or four days without any companion. Hector 
 Van Sandfoord and his pretty bride had come on board 
 at Cheyenne City, where they had stayed over a day to 
 break the strain of their voyage eastward. Now that 
 Theodora could hear the sound of her own voice and 
 of somebody's besides, her spirits rose, and she felt 
 that all would go well. 
 
THEODORA BOUR\ AND J.I E MARHILL. 13 
 
 The train was a singularly small one. Indeed, the 
 season, as we found, was not propitious for long 
 travelling. One car, for way travellers mostly, picked 
 up a handful of passengers now and then, and dropped 
 another handful. In the smoking-car there would 
 congregate a group of card-players ; and this was, on 
 the whole, the most densely peopled car on the train. 
 A dining-room and kitchen followed the Pullman 
 palace, as that followed the more plebeian carnages. 
 If the snow would only hold off, there would be no 
 difficulty in making the time. 
 
 Our three friends went back to supper together, 
 about half-past six, having talked in the darkness as 
 long as the waiters would let them, that the evening 
 might seem the shorter. As they sat down at the 
 pretty table, Theodora said : 
 
 " My great grief in this delay at Ogden is that it 
 keeps me on the road all Christmas day. I hoped even 
 against hope, and had taken it for granted that I could 
 spend the end of my Christmas at Piqua. It will seem 
 forlorn enough to spend the whole day in the train. 
 But there is no help for that now." 
 
 " Help, my dear child ! You will not travel an inch 
 on Christmas. You will stop with us at Council Bluffs, 
 and go down with us to the Corneaus at Hastings. I 
 do not know what the connection is. Hector is not 
 sure. But it is only twenty miles. We shall be there 
 in time to hang up our stockings. 
 
 " Who are the Corneaus ? Why, it seems as if we 
 had known you so long that you must know. The 
 Corneaus are Well, Hector, tell her who the Cor 
 neaus are." 
 
 " Whoever they are," replied poor Theodora with 
 a little reserve, " they are not expecting to have you 
 
14 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 bring every waif you pick up on the railroad to their 
 Christmas party." 
 
 " Not expecting it ? Queer people, if they did not 
 expect it ! My dear Theodora, where have you lived 
 all your life ? If you had tried life at a Mission from 
 the time you were one till till " 
 
 ' Till you became a married lady of dignity and 
 knowledge of the world," said Hector, interrupting 
 her, " if you were this, Miss Bourn, you would know 
 that the Corneaus, who live two or three miles out 
 from Hastings, would never speak to me again, if my 
 wife once let slip that we had let Miss Theodora Bourn 
 go on her way alone. Let me give you the thigh of 
 this chicken. You don't wish gravy ? You are the 
 first woman who ever refused it. To think of the 
 rage of the Corneaus, if you do not stop at their house 
 at Christmas !" 
 
 And so little Theodora was fairly enfolded into the 
 travelling bridal party, and was to take the chances of 
 life with them. 
 
 They went back into the palace, and they tried a 
 game of euchre with a dummy. But the game palled, 
 and seemed to be rather in the way. Mrs. Frechette 
 and her husband, with whom they had passed some 
 civilities before, came up and took the seats opposite 
 twenty-three and twenty-four, and, as it happened 
 they hardly knew why there came a very long post 
 at a station, so that the car was wholly still. They 
 could, therefore, now talk across the passage-way with 
 out difficulty, and all became very intimate. 
 
 ' You say you thought you should not have money 
 enough for your tickets," said Mrs. Frechette, 
 in comment on some story of Theodora Bourn. 
 
THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MARHILL. 15 
 
 " Do you not know how young ladies travel without 
 money ?" 
 
 ' They make their husbands pay," said Mr. Fr6- 
 chette. 
 
 " Not at all," said his wife. !< It is much simpler. 
 How do you suppose Scheherezade travelled the 
 woman in the Arabian Nights ? Do you think she 
 bought a through ticket ?" 
 
 " Not much," said Mary. " I always heard that 
 she sat on a carpet and it carried her. I wonder if 
 this carpet would fly if we took it out of the car." 
 
 " Nonsense," said Mrs. Frechette ; " she told stories 
 to the conductors. She was what they call a dead 
 head." 
 
 " I always understood that they called them tramps, 
 when they came with a pack of lies." 
 
 ' Tom, hold your tongue ! I tell you that Schehere 
 zade's plan has been transferred to our times and ways. 
 It tells all about it here. If Caesar there will only 
 light up the side-light I will read it to you." 
 
 And the jolly Mrs. Frechette, in triumph, dug from 
 the bottom of her lunch-basket a badly worn, not to 
 say somewhat greasy copy of the Cottage Hearth. 
 
 " I keep it," said she, " lest Tom be left over at a 
 way-station, as he will be some day, and I need to 
 work my passage. ' ' 
 
 So, as soon as Caesar had lighted up, she read : 
 
 JANE MARHILL'S STORY. 
 
 Jane Marhill had graduated at the Hamilton 
 Academy with all the honors. She and the other girls 
 and the first class had sat up half the night talking 
 with each other. Miss Norton, the mistress of the 
 school, was always very good to the girls at parting, 
 
1 6 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 and she had a little private breakfast party in her own 
 room the last morning. But this would not last for 
 ever, and at last good, kind Dr. Wistar came round in 
 his own buggy to take Jane to the train. She kissed 
 good-by to all. " Be sure you are in time with the 
 trunk, Cicero !" And Cicero said, " Sartin, Miss 
 Jane, the hoss is here," and by way of emphasis took 
 Jane's hand-bag also. The girl was confused with so 
 many good-bys, and gave it to him quite uncon 
 sciously. 
 
 Often and often had she a chance to regret this. 
 For on that bit of 'gallantry of Cicero's hinged all her 
 misfortunes. Dr. Wistar bade her good-by at the 
 station. The train was absolutely on time. Cicero 
 had relied on its being ten minutes late, as usual, and 
 when " All on board" was sounded, Jane stood with 
 out her trunk and without her satchel. 
 
 But she had her ticket ; what should she care if she 
 came home with her luggage a day behind her ? She 
 charged Mr. Treby, the station-master, who was a 
 tried friend of all the girls, to send both pieces after 
 her on the first train. 
 
 "All right, Miss Jane. I will double-check them, 
 and you will have them to-morrow morning." 
 
 So Jane blithely entered the car, little thinking at 
 the moment what was before her. 
 
 When the conductor asked her for her ticket, Jane 
 gave it to him for his " punch," and then recollected, 
 for the first time, that it only took her to the junction 
 at Whipple. At Whipple they would all have to wait 
 for the Cattaraugus and Opelousas express. Jane 
 knew that junction only too well. She had waited there 
 four times a year for five years. They would arrive 
 there at dark, and the express was due about half an 
 
THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MARHILL. 17 
 
 hour after they came in. All this Jane knew and was 
 prepared for. But the dreadful memory which shocked 
 her, from her gulping throat to her beating heart, was 
 that her purse was in the fatal hand-bag which she 
 had trusted to Cicero, and that she had with her hot 
 one cent for her expenses after this very moment 
 of her life ! 
 
 Was there, perhaps, some one in the train from whom 
 Jane might borrow ? 
 
 Not a man, not a woman ! If that horrid Schaus of 
 the bee-hive shop had been on his way to New York, 
 Jane would have abased herself. If only Miss Marion, 
 the head of the rival Female College, had been there 
 she would have done it. But there had been no 
 passenger except herself at Gallatin, which was the 
 seat of Hamilton Academy and the Female College, 
 and all the other people seemed to be butchers on 
 their way from Brighton. " Perhaps it is as well," 
 said Jane. " Did not Dr. Withers charge us in his 
 farewell sermon never to borrow? If only I could 
 walk home from Whipple !" But one cannot walk 
 one hundred and twenty miles in one evening. 
 
 On the seat in front of her was a little German girl 
 who was ticketed, by a visible card pinned upon her 
 frock, to Littleton, not twenty-five miles from Jane's 
 home. 
 
 To divert herself from the sense of her misery, Jane 
 asked the girl to sit with her, and remembered then, 
 with another great choke, how warm and nice were the 
 crullers in the lost bag, and how gladly she would have 
 treated the child with them. Failing the crullers she 
 asked the child if she could make paper dolls. It 
 proved that the little waif could not speak English. 
 Jenny profited by the occasion to air and exercise her 
 
I 8 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 German conversation. Before long she had her 
 scissors at work cutting out dolls, cats and dogs, 
 roebucks and cows, trees and houses, from a handbill 
 which advertised lunch on the ferry-boat. Alas, no 
 lunch for Jane that day ! But the child was grateful 
 to her, and she was grateful to the child. 
 
 And so she rushed on at a rapid speed, nearer and 
 nearer to her doom ! 
 
 " Whipple Junction ! Change for stations on Cat- 
 taraugus and Opelousas." Jane left her home, and so 
 did Gretchen. Jane was and knew she was a vaga 
 bond. She had no money and no visible means of 
 support. She was a tramp Gretchen at her side was 
 a bloated millionaire in the comparison. 
 
 The conductor had Gretchen 's lot intrusted to him. 
 He came to direct her where to buy her ticket was 
 relieved to find Jenny in charge, and said hastily, " The 
 girl is to go to Littleton. She needs a new ticket 
 here." Poor Jenny ! She led the girl to the ticket 
 window, waited in the queue, bought the ticket with 
 the money Gretchen furnished, and gave back to 
 Gretchen the precious change six dollars and forty 
 cents. Had ever money seemed so precious ! 
 
 Would she confide in Gretchen ? Would she borrow 
 from her ? 
 
 That would seem too thin, the girl would have said, 
 had the language of Hamilton Academy furnished her 
 with so convenient a term. Come what wOuld she 
 would not borrow. But she did turn to the ticket- 
 seller. 
 
 " Is the express on time ?" 
 
 " No, Miss ; it was forty-seven minutes late at 
 Sedgemoor. They will make up some of it, but not 
 all." 
 
THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MARHILL. 19 
 
 As she turned from the ticket-office she saw the 
 placard, brightly lighted, which read : 
 
 "NOTICE TO LOAFERS." 
 
 V All loafing in this room is prohibited by law." 
 And then followed the section of the act aimed at 
 all persons who, " without right," haunt railway 
 stations. 
 
 But Jane rose superior to the insinuation. The 
 smile of victory was on her face now. For, with the 
 words of the ticket-seller, light had dawned on her. 
 
 She was no longer a loafer. She had found a voca 
 tion ! 
 
 She did not, however, as yet, enter upon its exer 
 cise. 
 
 Skilfully she reserved herself, till she saw and knew 
 that the other passengers waiting for the express 
 were becoming desperate at their detention. 
 
 At that junction as at most junctions the lamps 
 are so high and so bad that no one can read. The 
 seats are so nailed to the floor, that you cannot make 
 groups for conversation, or even for playing at cards. 
 Grimly the waiting throng sat or stood. Now one 
 walked on the platform in the drizzly rain. Now he 
 came back to the misery of the half-lighted room. All 
 watched the clock, which in the deadness of the 
 place almost stopped, but crawled on enough to make 
 it sure that the machinery was not accountable for the 
 slowness of time. 
 
 Jane felt at last that her moment had come. 
 
 With the same courage which she had pretended 
 the day before, on the stage at the exhibition, she 
 stepped forward holding the hand of little Gretchen 
 and said to the astonished detained people : 
 
20 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, the time passes very slowly. 
 It has been suggested that I should TELL A STORY !" 
 The effective pause just before the proposal, wrought 
 its perfect work, and the proposal was received with 
 hearty applause. The applause encouraged Jenny, 
 and she began. 
 
 The girl had had practice enough. Often and often 
 had she told stories to the girls at the Academy, while 
 they gladly copied out her exercises for her in return, 
 from her rough notes. 
 
 She began with an English steamer sailing from the 
 Mersey. She described, realistically, her own experi 
 ences of a year before, when she came home with her 
 father and mother from a summer tour. But now, in 
 her story, the travellers were a German workman, his 
 wife and daughter, who had second-class passages. 
 She portrayed the second cabin. She just entered into 
 its intrigues and politics, but not far. Of a sudden 
 as all slept on board in the night shouts overhead : 
 the helm put down hard ! Too late the ship crashes 
 against ice ! The stewards rush through the cabins 
 summoning all to rise. They dress in wild haste. 
 They stagger on deck to be told off to the boats. 
 The child is parted from her father and mother ! 
 She is fairly thrown into the surgeon's boat ! The 
 boat is cast off. 
 
 And here the story-teller paused. 
 
 To the baggage-master, who was listening in the 
 throng : " Would you have the kindness to bring me 
 a cup of water?" 
 
 Then, in German to Gretchen : " Take off your hat 
 and pass it to the gentlemen and ladies." Then to 
 the assembly : " Perhaps they will like to help a poor 
 traveller on her way." 
 
THEODORA BOURN AND JANE MARHILL. 21 
 
 The child supposed this might be the custom of a 
 new country, in which she had been a citizen now for 
 twenty-six hours. 
 
 She did as she was bidden. A jolly old Texan, 
 whom she touched first, modestly, dropped a silver 
 dollar in the hat. One and another of the detained 
 fumbled in the change pocket of his coat, one and 
 another lady dived into her travelling*bag. Jane did 
 not wait for the little girl to come back with her col 
 lections, but went on as if indifferent. 
 
 " Quartermaster, is your boat clear?" 
 
 " Aye, aye, sir !" 
 
 "And you, Mr. Flagg?" 
 
 " Aye, aye, sir !" 
 
 But at this moment the distant scream of a whistle. 
 The baggage-master appeared with his mug of water. 
 * The train is in sight, Miss. They have made up 
 their time." 
 
 And, with the word, Jane's audience melted av/ay. 
 She was left alone with Gretchen. 
 
 With her well-earned travel-gelt she turned to the 
 window, and asked boldly for her ticket. 
 
 The clerk, another man from the one she saw be 
 fore, looked at the paper pinned upon the window- 
 frame, and said : 
 
 " Is this Miss Marhill?" 
 
 "Why, yes," replied Jane. 
 
 " Miss Marhill, your father is on the train. He is 
 coming up from Lawrence. He left word this morning 
 that he has your ticket and you were to buy none." 
 
 So Jane took Gretchen into the palace car, as the 
 train stopped, and in a moment was in her father's 
 
 arms. 
 
 * # * # # * 
 
22 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Everybody laughed heartily at the end of Mrs. 
 Frechette's little story. But Tom, her husband, said : 
 
 " It ends like all the rest of them, I observe. 
 ' The new invention is very fine. 
 
 " But I see that, all the same, the man pays for the 
 tickets." 
 
 And on this they told Caesar that he might make 
 up the berths. The men went forward to see what was 
 the cause of the detention. Theodora and Mary kissed 
 each other, and in an hour every one on the train, 
 except the working hands, was sleeping soundly more 
 soundly, indeed, than is usual on a train. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 
 
 THE next morning Caesar took a hint from the 
 P. P. C., which letters mean Pullman Palace Conductor. 
 This right worthy commander told Caesar there was 
 no need of waking the sleepers ; and the sleepers, 
 most of whom had slept at the rate of thirty-five miles 
 an hour for the last two or three nights before, finding 
 themselves in perfect stillness and well-nigh perfect 
 darkness, availed themselves of the occasion, and made 
 up for past deficiencies. 
 
 When, at eight o'clock, one and another began to 
 find themselves wakeful, the mystery of silence and 
 stillness was explained. The train was switched off 
 the main track at the Brady Island station, and had 
 been for hours. Something had happened at the east 
 ward no one knew what. The telegraph answered 
 to no appeals except from the west. We could not 
 even hear from Council Bluffs by the reverse way of 
 Denver and the K. P. R., as we tried to do. 
 
 " We shall have to ride a little way on Christmas 
 morning, after all, Miss Bourn, if your scruples will 
 permit. We shall hardly leave the Bluffs this after 
 noon, as I had promised you." 
 
 And so Hector and Mary and Theodora went back 
 to breakfast. They found George Hackmetack and 
 the Frechettes in the breakfast car already, and most 
 of the other palace people soon reported. No morn- 
 
24 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 ing newspaper, but no lack of topics for talk in the 
 discussion of the probabilities of the delay. 
 
 As it proved, the delay gave us two pleasant ad 
 ditions to our party, and, indeed, our one adventure. 
 
 No one needed to hurry at breakfast, more than 
 they had hurried in waking. One by one the gentle 
 men strayed out for their cigars, and all the ladies, as 
 it happened, were left with Van Sandfoord alone, chat 
 ting over grapes and coffee. It was nearly ten o'clock 
 when Caesar came back to see what had happened to 
 his gentlemen and ladies, and the little group then 
 made their way slowly forward. Van Sandfoord left 
 the ladies in the palace, and went out upon the little 
 platform of the station. 
 
 He was walking with a ranchman, whom he met 
 there, when Caesar came up, a good deal excited : 
 
 " Your lady, sar, say the other lady lost little black 
 bonnet lady lost not come back from breakfuss. " 
 
 " Lost, Caesar !" cried Hector, laughing. ' How 
 can she be lost in two cars ? I wish there were more 
 chance for all of us to be lost." But he hurried back 
 to see what his wife's message really was, and found 
 that Csesar had not blundered. 
 
 The women had gathered by themselves had 
 brought out books and work. Mrs. Frechette had 
 started a little water-color sketch, and things began 
 to seem sociable, when they had noticed that Theodora 
 did not appear. Mary Van Sandfoord sent Caesar 
 back to the breakfast-room, to ask her to come and 
 see how comfortable they were, and she was not there. 
 Some one suggested that she had friends forward ; but 
 they were worried now, and Caesar was sent forward 
 in vain. 
 
 Hector was sure that she had not passed him or ap- 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 25 
 
 
 peared on the station platform, and so were all the 
 gentlemen who had been grouped and smoking there. 
 Every search and even every guess was exhausted in 
 dumb wonder, when from the other side of the snow 
 bound station we were loudly hailed. Every one ran 
 round the corner, and we met a vigorous young man 
 with poor Theodora unconscious in his arms. He was 
 stepping slowly on snow-shoes, and followed by a com 
 panion. 
 
 " Have you so many women here that you leave 
 them lying alone in the snow?" he said, as he carried 
 his charge into the open door-way of the station. 
 
 Just where the heaviest drift formed, high and 
 treacherous against the bare open way left by the gale, 
 as it swept round the corner of the house, the poor 
 girl had fallen and lay wholly senseless when he found 
 her. It proved, when she came to herself, that as she 
 crossed from the kitchen to the palace how easy that 
 transition seems sometimes ! her veil had blown from 
 her hand, and lay in tantalizing neighborhood on the 
 bare ground below. It was nothing for the girl to step 
 down for it. But, as she stepped, it was nothing for 
 the veil to fly a few yards from her. She followed as 
 promptly followed without a Yankee girl's knowledge 
 of snow, wholly ignorant of the capacities of a snow 
 drift made two fatal steps into a bed two or three feet 
 deep, which yielded immediately under her, fell for 
 ward on her face, struggled vainly with both hands 
 and arms, and in a few moments forgot everything. 
 
 It was, as we guessed, within five minutes or ten 
 that she was telling us this, while Mrs. Frechette 
 chafed one arm, and Mary Van Sandfoord one foot, as 
 she sat in the one arm-chair of the " Ladies' Room." 
 
 The knights who had come to the rescue so fort- 
 
26 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 unately were Fergus Menet and one of his chemists, 
 a young fellow named Decker. 
 
 Luckily for Theodora, they had ridden across from 
 some explorations they had been making, to strike our 
 train, but had been hindered by the snow had had 
 to give up their horses and take to snow-shoes. 
 
 Luckily for them our train was half a day or less 
 behind time. 
 
 As they came up they saw our lazy engine and our 
 silent cars, with mingled joy and terror, for they could 
 not see a living being to signal, yet at any moment 
 the train might move from them. 
 
 Just as Decker, in advance, was hailing the station, 
 he saw the corner of Theodora's frock straying out from 
 the snow. The unconscious girl was already nearly 
 covered by the rapid drift. 
 
 It needed then but a moment for these strong men 
 to uncover her, and bring her into the station-house. 
 
 Theodora was taken up into the little state-room of 
 the Pullman, so soon as her blood was well started. 
 Mrs. Frechette and Mary shut themselves in with her, 
 and presided over the cares of her recovery. Cassar was 
 sent forward with her check for her trunk, which was 
 brought and opened in the palace ; and, in the course 
 of half an hour, she appeared again. She was very 
 much mortified at making so much fuss ; very pretty, 
 nicely and dryly dressed, and just as well as if she had 
 had the good luck to take a good cold sponge bath 
 before she dressed a bit of luxury which had been 
 denied to all the rest of us. 
 
 " And to think," cried Mary, " of being rescued and 
 restored by the great Fergus Menet himself." 
 
 For Mary had found out from her husband who the 
 new-comers were. 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOUR.\'. 27 
 
 Theodora asked who "the great Fergus Menet" 
 was ? 
 
 11 Do you not know who Fergus Menet is ? A Cali 
 fornia girl not know Fergus Menet ? Did you ever 
 hear of Napoleon Bonaparte or of Queen Victoria ?" 
 
 " I think I once heard a Chinaman speak of Queen 
 Victoria. But who is the other one ? Was he not the 
 King of the Cannibal Islands ?" 
 
 "Oh, Theodora, you are joking. Why, Fergus 
 Menet, he is ' M., P. & V.' ' Menet, Perry, and Ville 
 Fosse.' You hardly ever see a block of silver our way 
 but is marked ' M., P. & V.' And he is as good as 
 he is rich, and all women ought to know about him. 
 " When you are rested, I will tell you all his story " 
 
 " Rested ? Dear Mrs. Van Sandfoord, I am rested 
 now. Was ever your Queen Victoria if that is her 
 name more comfortable in Windsor?" 
 
 Pretty girl, she might well say so. Caesar had 
 opened out 17, 18, 19, and 20. He had brought in, I 
 know not how many pillows, and heaped them up, as 
 loves in the pictures heap cushions on the barge for 
 Cleopatra. And there our rosy, eager, modest The 
 odora half lay and half sat, with every conceivable 
 colored rug which the stores of all the party could pro 
 duce piled round her, while the rich crimson of the 
 Pullman blankets gave the dominating color for the 
 picture. 
 
 " There is no time like this," said Theodora, " if 
 it would not tire you to tell us." 
 
 " Tire me ! Such things do not tire me. Besides, 
 it is all written down." 
 
 And Mrs. Van Sandfoord opened her extensor case. 
 It was packed woman-fashion with all Mary's treas 
 ures. Her Thomas a Kempis, and her diamond 
 
28 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 brooch, and her little brother's picture, and her last 
 letter from her mother, kissed one another amicably, 
 and at the bottom of the whole, in a yellow envelope, 
 just as Miss Norton had sent it to her from Gallatin, 
 was the story of Fergus Menet and Ellen Markley. 
 As the Independent people had named it, it was called 
 
 TOGETHER. 
 
 I. NEW PADUA. 
 
 " SHALL you go to your uncle's for your Thanksgiv 
 ing dinner ?" 
 
 Ellen asked this question a little timidly. 
 
 "No," said Fergus, rather shortly; and then he 
 added, with an artificial smile : " I shall take pot-luck 
 here with Mrs. Odonto, unless your aunt asks me." 
 
 Mrs. Odonto kept the boarding-house at which 
 Fergus and Ellen both lived. 
 
 " No," said Ellen and her smile was half a smile 
 only, and her eyes looked a little wet " my aunt will 
 not ask you ; for for I have told her that I should 
 not accept her invitation." 
 
 Fergus fairly laughed this time. 
 
 " Have you had a row there? I have had a row 
 with my uncle." 
 
 Fergus and Ellen were engaged to be married, and 
 had been for a year past. He was the assistant 
 teacher in chemistry in the State Agricultural College. 
 
 This meant that he opened and shut the shutters, 
 according as the professor's experiments required sun 
 or shade, and that he cleared up the broken glass and 
 other fragments when the professor was done. The 
 place was rather a galling one for Fergus, who knew 
 perhaps as much of the new chemistry as the professor 
 did. As for Ellen, she was an assistant teacher in the 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 29 
 
 same college ; for the State Agricultural College was 
 also the State University, and in that State co-educa 
 tion existed. So Ellen taught young men and young 
 women to square the hypothenuse and to work out 
 the binomial theorem; while in the basement Fergus 
 Menet swept up the fragments, and chafed when the 
 professor failed in his experiments. 
 
 The drawback about the Thanksgiving dinner began 
 deeper down than you might guess. Fergus had made 
 an evening call at. his uncle's, knowing that he would 
 be welcome on Thanksgiving day, and hoping, nay ex 
 pecting, that they would ask Ellen Markley to come 
 with him. His engagement to her was perfectly 
 understood. His aunt had called on Ellen, and Ellen 
 had returned the call. Instead of this his aunt had 
 made an excuse to be alone with him. Then she had 
 said, half in joke and half in earnest, as it seemed, 
 that Miss Gholson, from Albany, was coming to visit 
 her ; that Miss Gholson had been very much inter 
 ested in Fergus when he spoke at Saratoga, at the 
 Association ; that she had spoken of him several times, 
 as if she remembered him ; that she had an immense 
 fortune in her own right ; and that if Fergus would 
 " follow his hand," as his aunt elegantly said, he could 
 win Miss Gholson's and could be independent for life. 
 In reply to all this, Fergus had said, very simply at first, 
 that he was engaged to the sweetest girl in the world ; 
 and when his aunt intimated that such things meant 
 nothing with young people, Fergus had flared up and 
 gone away in a rage. This rage had not subsided 
 when Ellen Markley asked him, as you know, if he 
 should go to his uncle's for his Thanksgiving dinner. 
 
 All this, of course, Ellen did not understand. 
 Fergus would not insult her by telling her. But 
 
30 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 what Ellen did understand, and had understood for 
 weeks, was that she would not taste salt nor turkey 
 on Thanksgiving day at the stately mansion of the 
 Robervals. The Robervals were old Huguenot people. 
 They lived four miles out from New Padua, in an 
 elegant way. Mrs. Roberval was Ellen's aunt ; and 
 last year Ellen was there at Thanksgiving and at 
 Christmas. But it happened, oddly enough, that 
 Mrs. Roberval had been making a match for Ellen just 
 about the time her engagement for Fergus came on. 
 The stately and rich Mr. Arbuthnot, the great Con 
 necticut manufacturer, had seen Ellen at the Rober 
 vals', had admired her, had offered himself, and had 
 been refused. But Mrs. Roberval had told him that 
 faint heart never won fair lady, and he could not give 
 up. And an eager letter had come from him, and 
 Mrs. Roberval had shown it to Ellen and had made 
 her cry. And Ellen had said to herself that she would 
 not go to Rochelle House to dine for all the world, if 
 they did not ask Fergus ; and, as Ellen knew, they 
 were as likely to ask Sitting Bull. 
 
 So was it that, for reasons not dissimilar, these two 
 young people were to have their Thanksgiving dinner 
 with such company as Mrs. Odonto might supply, at 
 the boarding-house table. 
 
 II. A THANKSGIVING DINNER. 
 
 I do not know. What I do not know is this : 
 whether Mrs. Odonto was glad or sorry that Fergus 
 Menet and Ellen Markley notified her that they should 
 dine at the boarding-house. 
 
 What I do know is : that Rose Finegan, the cook, 
 expected a holiday that day, and that Mary Maginnis, 
 the table-girl, was going to the Mills for the day ; so 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 31 
 
 I think that Mrs. Odonto hoped that all the boarders 
 would dine away from what she was pleased to call 
 " home." I am sure none of the boarders called it so. 
 
 However, Mrs. Odonto bore up bravely, and made 
 no sign of anxiety or regret, though she knew that the 
 Thanksgiving dinner would have to be cooked by her 
 own red right hand. 
 
 But when Ellen heard that Mrs. Odonto's brigadier 
 and major-generals were to desert her, or to assume 
 other fields of duty, she changed her plans, and she 
 persuaded Fergus to change his. She did not think it 
 at all "nice" that Mrs. Odonto should have to slave 
 and slave just to get them a dinner ; so she proposed 
 that they should turn Mrs. Odonto out of doors also. 
 She would ask Minna Ville-Fosse, who was the Ger 
 man teacher in the Agricultural College, to come and 
 dine with them ; and she and Minna would cook the 
 dinner. If Fergus were to marry her, she said, it was 
 but right that he should know whether she could cook 
 a dinner. As for him, he might ask home any gentle 
 man he liked. He should be a nice gentleman, Ellen 
 said, who would like to talk with Minna, who was a 
 very charming girl. 
 
 Fergus grumbled a little at the necessity of being 
 hospitable. But Ellen told him what he knew very 
 well before that there was no Thanksgiving unless 
 they shared what was provided ; and intimated that, 
 if she and he spent the day together, with or without 
 Mrs. Odonto's company, they might become tired of 
 each other too soon. It ended, of course, in her hav 
 ing her own way. Mrs. Odonto said she would take 
 the morning car for New Herkimer, and the young 
 people were to work their own sweet will in the kitchen 
 and dining-room. Nay, before Thanksgiving day 
 
32 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 came, the kitchen was given over on Tuesday after 
 noon to Ellen and to her friend Minna. And there, in 
 the secrecy of a cabbala whose oracles no man shall 
 interpret, they created pies and tarts and jellies, now 
 of Yankee, now of German workmanship enough, one 
 would have said, for a dinner of twenty covers ; but in 
 truth all prepared for one of four. 
 
 Fergus hesitated a little about the guest he should 
 bring, to be agreeable to the Fraulein Minna. College 
 professors, resident graduates, unmarried ministers in 
 the town passed in procession before his mind, as he 
 determined which of them should have the honor of 
 being selected as fourth hand in this select game 
 of Thanksgiving day. But Fergus also was under the 
 influence of the day ; and he finally gave his invita 
 tion, not to one of these people who were to choose 
 between four or five parties, but to a new-found friend 
 of his, whose room was in the attic of the Too-Good 
 House, and who would have taken his chance at the 
 stage dinner of that inn, had not Fergus remembered 
 him. This was a seedy-looking man, named Perry, 
 whom Fergus had found at the Union. At the Union 
 he had a sort of natural history class7 made up of 
 factory hands and shop clerks, whom he was initiating 
 into the mysteries of mineralogy and geology. Fergus 
 had been drawn toward him since the first time he saw 
 him. Perry had asked him to let him use the labora 
 tory, to make some rather intricate examinations of 
 some bog-ore the boys had brought back from a vaca 
 tion ramble. The man seemed to have had a spe 
 cialist's training. Very crude in some things he was, 
 very shrewd in others. Pie was very lonely in the 
 town, and, as Fergus knew, would hardly call any one 
 his friend excepting him. But Perry knew very well 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 33 
 
 what Thanksgiving day was. Even in his loneliness he 
 had found it the loneliest day in the year, ever since 
 he had been in America ; and the tears fairly stood in 
 his eyes when he received and accepted Fergus's in 
 vitation. 
 
 Fergus compelled Perry to go to " meeting" with 
 him. No man would dare say whether Perry had ful 
 filled righteousness in that way before since he had 
 lived in New Padua. But they heard Mr. Cross preach 
 a sermon on the Indian policy of the General Govern 
 ment, they put their surplus earnings into the contri 
 bution-box, and then, as instructed by the women 
 folk, they took a long walk before they returned to 
 dinner. They found the table set ; and in a little while 
 the ladies came in, with their faces aglow, but not too 
 much aglow, and condescended to let the gentlemen 
 bring in the heavy turkey and the chicken-pie, while 
 they followed with trays laden with side-dishes. In 
 this self-service there was quite frolic enough to break 
 the ice. Fergus asked a blessing with good heart, 
 and from Boothia Felix to the Farallones Islands there 
 was not a jollier Thanksgiving dinner that day than 
 this proved to be. 
 
 Minna Ville-Fosse was, indeed, what Ellen had rep 
 resented her a sweet, pretty girl. French blood 
 mixed with German in her blushes, and French bright 
 ness and German sense in her talk. Her English was, 
 like Kossuth's, just broken enough and unidiomatic 
 enough to be suggestive and entertaining. As for 
 Perry, you never knew where to find him. The New 
 Education, which is just now showing its results, cer 
 tainly brings curiosity and surprise into conversation. 
 You never know what a man will understand nor 
 where his mind will be a blank. Mr. Perry sat per- 
 
34 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 fectly silent when the others tried some quite familiar 
 themes of literature. On the other hand, he would 
 come out with a world of curious and entertaining in 
 formation about things where archangels might be 
 pardoned for ignorance. 
 
 Of all which talk, now very serious and now very 
 merry, the only part which much concerns this story 
 fell after dinner, when they were wasting Mrs. 
 Odonto's hard cut logs in a great open fireplace in her 
 parlor. Fergus had been grinding an axe by making 
 Minna Ville-Fosse explain to him some phrases in his 
 German mining-books. She proved to be an expert 
 of the hundred-thousandth power. 
 
 " How in the world did you know all these crack- 
 jaw words?" cried he, at last. 
 
 ' Why not ? How should I know any other words? 
 I have lived at Freiberg till I was fifteen. My father 
 was a superintendent of mines. My grandfather was 
 a famous mining engineer. All my dear brothers are 
 underground at this moment, I suppose." 
 
 Mr. Perry left talking with Ellen, almost rudely, and 
 directed his attention to the book and the talk. In a 
 minute the reason appeared. He was a Welshman. 
 All his earlier life had been spent in Swansea. The 
 name of Ville-Fosse was as familiar to him as the name 
 of Worth is to a Baltimore belle or of Edwards to an 
 Andover student ; and, without thinking much of his 
 manners, he turned to listen. 
 
 Then what talk there was about schists, and gangues, 
 and carbonates, and pyrites ; about Himmelsfiirst, and 
 Veta Grande, and Veta Madre ; about limestone and 
 fluxes, and rubbish, what had been done and what 
 might be done and what ought to be done, till Ellen 
 declared herself disgusted. She would not be left out 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 35 
 
 in the cold, she said. She opened Mrs. Odonto's card 
 table, and made them, willy-nilly, give up their beloved 
 assays and reductions. She produced a new pack of 
 cards, and taught them all to play ombre, which was 
 the game of the Rape of the Lock. Ombre is whist 
 as whist would be under a despot. Whist is ombre 
 where the despot has had his head cut off, and 
 peasants, merchants, priests, and soldiers, or clubs, 
 diamonds, hearts, and spades, are equal in their rights 
 before the law. But Ellen made them play ombre. 
 Most women, in their heart of hearts, incline for 
 despotism in government. 
 
 III. PROSPECTING. 
 
 And this is all that can be told of that gay little pic 
 nic dinner-party. What grew out of it all seemed 
 simple enough at the time. When Fergus found that 
 Mr. Perry had spent all his early life in the various 
 grades of smelting works in Swansea, he told him that 
 New Padua was no place for him, which, alas ! poor 
 Perry knew well enough already. Fergus told Perry 
 that he ought to be in Arizona. He showed him, in 
 the college library, in Allegre and Venegas, the evi 
 dence that there was a time when the chief fountain of 
 Spanish wealth flowed in silver from far-off Arizona. 
 The attic of the Too-Good House was no place for 
 him, while sulphurets and carbonates were waiting for 
 him to torture them under a sky so delicious. In 
 Sonora, just over the border, was found the largest 
 nugget of silver ever seen, preserved perhaps to this 
 hour in some museum in Spain. That did not weigh 
 quite three thousand pounds, and probably was not 
 worth fifty thousand dollars. " But you shall find a 
 bigger one," said Fergus. 'You shall send next 
 
36 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 Thanksgiving one fifty-thousand-dollar nugget to Ellen 
 and another to Miss Minna here, and we will drink 
 your health in a cup of Mrs. Odonto's best black 
 coffee." 
 
 Poor Mr. Perry knew this, of course, well nigh a3 
 well as Fergus ; only the sinews of war failed him. 
 Here Fergus came to the rescue. He had a square 
 talk with Perry and learned his whole story. Perry 
 had broken down in Swansea and " was cleaned out" 
 there, as the carnal say. What was the break-down I 
 do not know. Only it was not dishonesty and it was 
 not gambling. Probably it was liquor, which is at the 
 bottom of so large a proportion of the wretchedness of 
 our times that, when you know nothing to the con 
 trary, you may take this for granted. Whatever it 
 was, Fergus knew. I do not. Fergus had confidence 
 enough in his man to believe him a man of honor ; and 
 after consulting with Ellen and with her full consent, 
 Fergus borrowed at the First National Bank five hun 
 dred dolkrs on the pledge of bonds to that amount, 
 and boldly lent the money tu Mr. Perry to go to 
 Arizona, to try his fortune. He got letters for him to 
 General Fremont, to Mrs. Fremont, and to Mr. Weber, 
 and before Christmas Mr. Perry was on his way. 
 
 And this adventure went much farther than they 
 supposed. Letters came from Mr. Perry every week. 
 Sometimes he was up ; sometimes he was down. But 
 one May morning, just after Fergus had hung a basket 
 of arbutus, of liverwort, and anemone on the handle 
 of Ellen's door, he walked down to the village for his 
 mail, and in the mail was the critical letter from San 
 Xavier del Bac on which hinges the end of this story. 
 
 Mr. Perry had obtained control of just the property 
 he wanted. Capital was needed, of course ; but cap- 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 37 
 
 ital would come, could one be sure of brains, scientific 
 knowledge, and business faculty. As for the sinking 
 of shafts, the development of the mine, and the 
 other general work of bringing the one to be fit for 
 anything, Mr. Perry had no fear for his own ability. 
 But as for the smelting, he was wholly dissatisfied with 
 all he saw as well with the old Mexican traditions 
 as with the new hand-to-mouth California makeshifts, 
 as he coolly called them. And the letter, therefore, 
 ended with these pregnant sentences : " In short, my 
 dear sir, you have seen my drift already. If you could 
 come out here to live of course, with your wife I 
 believe we could have the best mine here and the best 
 smelting mills. And, observe, the last is vastly the more 
 important of the two. A mine may or may not play 
 out ; or there may be a thousand better mines. Quien 
 sabe ? But there cannot be better smelting than you 
 and I ought to be able to establish here. Then let 
 there be a thousand and one mines, why, so much the 
 better for you and me. 
 
 " Could not Miss Ville-Fosse send for one of those 
 brothers of hers from Freiberg ? I do not want to 
 underrate your chemistry, nor my own, of course ; 
 but I observe that the German gentlemen here are reti 
 cent, and that some things which they do they do in 
 secret. If you and I were together, and Mr. Ville- 
 Fosse prove to have the average practical knowledge 
 of the Freiberg people I have known here and in 
 Europe, why, we would beat the world." 
 
 IV. ANOTHER DINNER. 
 
 It was on the strength of this letter that Fergus him 
 self went to Arizona, to see how the country lay. A 
 costly journey it was, too, for Arizona was a hard place 
 
38 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 to reach in those days, nor is it easy to reach now. But 
 Fergus persuaded Rising, at the New Altona newspaper 
 office, that he wanted some letters from the mines ; 
 and, on the strength of an engagement there, he 
 made another engagement with a great " Metropolitan 
 Daily" to write to them. And, by kving on light fare 
 as he travelled, and writing on these letters at every 
 instant when trains ceased joggling, he made both ends 
 meet without too terrible an inroad on the little capi 
 tal, which would be so essential if Perry's views were 
 confirmed. 
 
 And Perry's views were confirmed, so far that Fergus 
 came back to New Padua, and persuaded Ellen Mark- 
 ley to marry him then and there. If he went to Ari 
 zona, she would go. And he went, and she went. 
 Fritz Ville-Fosse had been written to, and he was only 
 too glad to see in place with his own eyes ores which 
 he had written about and heard about for so many 
 years. He was even able, with the help of his friends, 
 to contribute something to the little capital of the trio ; 
 while Fergus was doing his utmost, by way of wed 
 ding preparations, to induce his friends also to sub 
 scribe for their own good, as he believed. 
 
 So is it that the next Thanksgiving day finds Mr. 
 and Mrs. Menet that is to say, Fergus and his wife 
 Ellen keeping house in their adobe palace, within the 
 sound of the bells of the old mission church of Santa 
 Madre de los Remedies. And these bells, which men 
 said were two centuries old, were ringing all that morn 
 ing. Mr. Perry, who was a guest, said that it was St. 
 Jonathan's day ; but this was his little joke. He had 
 been out with his gun two or three days before, and 
 had brought in two matchless turkeys for the feast ; 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 39 
 
 and while in every adobe in the neighborhood Mexican 
 women were at work over their ollas or were frying 
 their tortillas, Ellen and Minna Ville-Fosse found them 
 selves recalling the memories of Mrs. Odonto's kitchen, 
 as they rolled out pastry, stewed the great dice they 
 cut from majestic pumpkins, and performed other rites 
 of the annual mysteries of New England. 
 
 Mr. Perry could not be made to go with Fergus to 
 attend at mass, at the daily service of the church of 
 Santa Madre. Not he ! He would watch those stupid 
 dogs who were building the chimney. But Fergus was 
 true, not so much to a conviction, indeed, as to a sen 
 timent ; and, with devotion quickened by gratitude, 
 and gratitude more grateful for devotion, joined the 
 queer company of dirty children, and mothers as dirty, 
 who kneeled before the broken altar-rail, as a swarthy 
 priest, in vestments of the most equivocal character, 
 elevated the host and repeated what he could from a 
 liturgy which he could not understand. Shall we 
 blame Fergus if the prayer that he uttered in his heart 
 of hearts was accompanied by the vow that these 
 mothers and these children should have better chances 
 in the future to come into a reasonable service to a 
 loving Father ? 
 
 The elevation of the host did Fergus no harm, to be 
 sure. The hour he spent in the old church was an 
 hour which watered and sunned seeds which will yet 
 bear good harvest. At last he left the odor of incense 
 and other smells, of garlic and of onions, which in 
 cense had not smothered, and came out into the sweet, 
 open air, and stood on the great slab in front of the 
 church, to give thanks again for air, and sunlight, 
 and blue sky, and health, and wife, and home. As he 
 looked right and left, he saw the crowd of loafers, 
 
40 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 " greasers," and dogs which announced the arrival of a 
 stranger. He was not so far beyond the realm of 
 curiosity but that he walked toward the crowd, while a 
 morose man would have walked away from it. Two 
 horsemen appeared, as they might have done in one 
 of Mr. James's novels ; and behind them quite a little 
 train of burros good, patient creatures, with their 
 packs. A horde of Mexican children surrounded the 
 party. 
 
 The leading horseman touched his hat to Fergus, 
 who advanced cordially to offer him the hospitalities 
 of the village. 
 
 " Can you be so kind as to point to us the way to 
 the mines of Mr. Perry or Mr. Menet ?" 
 
 " I am Mr. Menet," said Fergus, hastily. And then 
 light struck him ; and he saw what the quicker reader 
 has discovered already that here was Fritz Ville- 
 Fosse in person. Warm was the greeting, eager the 
 surprise, unintelligible the explanations why his letters 
 had not come in advance ; and cheerily did Fergus 
 lead him to the adobe, where they surprised Ellen and 
 Minna, even as they were dishing up the Thanksgiving 
 dinner. 
 
 Many a dinner had these six afterward in that adobe 
 house now on the fat of the land, now on minced 
 meat made from the dinner of the day before, and now 
 on tortillas and hard tack, as might be ordered for 
 them in the providence of the good God ; but never 
 was there breakfast, luncheon, dinner, tea, or supper 
 (for the house was carried on on the five-meal princi 
 ple), never was a crust broken in the daily sacrament 
 of a common meal, but that first Thanksgiving day 
 was remembered, and the memory carried a blessing. 
 That Fritz should actually come in upon Minna 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 41 
 
 when her hands upheld a gigantic chicken-pie; that 
 she had courage and persistency enough not to drop 
 it, in her wonder and delight ; that feast, and not 
 famine, should be his welcome all this, and all that 
 belonged to it, made the first Thanksgiving at Santa 
 Madre a feast to be long remembered. 
 
 They talked and they talked now in good Eng 
 lish and broken German, now in good German and 
 broken English till the small hours came in. And in 
 that talk were laid the foundations which, in all the 
 doubts and difficulties of years, secured ultimate 
 triumph. That famous firm of Menet, Perry, and 
 Ville-Fosse was then formed. That famous mono 
 gram, which unites the M., P. and V. a monogram so 
 familiar to those who have handled the Santa Madre 
 ingots was then and there devised. Minna's was the 
 pattern which out of a dozen commanded every suf 
 frage ; nor has it ever been changed in their years of 
 prosperity, more than fabulous. 
 
 And it has been prosperity well deserved. In all 
 these years, whether of struggle or of success, 
 whether of adversity or of prosperity, they have held 
 to the cordiality of the first Thanksgiving dinners. 
 Each of the men has the word " Together" cut upon his 
 watch-seal. Each of the women has " Together" in 
 scribed on the inner surface of her wedding-ring. 
 Ellen has known the times when she said that, as shoe 
 makers' wives are ill-shod, the wives of smelters are 
 short of money. Ellen has rocked one baby with her 
 foot on the cradle, has penned up another with two 
 chairs on their sides, while she fried the tortillas which 
 were the only dinner, because her oven was so full of 
 silver-bricks, which were hidden in it, that she could 
 not use it for her weekly baking. That was in the 
 
42 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 week when they had had the riot just below them, at 
 the Sweetwater Gulch ; and when their own priest was 
 drunk, and nobody knew in the morning what might 
 happen before night. But in all such trials, as in the 
 trials of prosperity, so much harder to be borne, those 
 five have always held " together." 
 
 v. PARIS. 
 
 And now, as it happens, the last Thanksgiving of 
 this story is in Paris. 
 
 Fergus had been invited, in a very civil letter from 
 the president of the Bank of France, to one more con 
 ference on this knotty question, whether argent shall 
 continue to be r argent. Shall silver be money ? Of 
 course, as one of the men through whose hands an 
 immense fraction of it passes every year, his opinion 
 for the present and his judgment for the future must 
 be taken. 
 
 Fergus had telegraphed to his agent in Paris as to 
 his wishes for a home for the winter, and the agent had 
 bought the grand old Hotel De Rosny, with the pict 
 ures oh ! such pictures and the furniture. And to 
 this pleasant home he and Ellen and the children and 
 the nurses had gone direct from the train ; and they 
 felt as much at home as in New Padua, at Mrs. 
 Odonto's. The children might well say this, as they 
 had never seen that paradise. And Ellen had brought 
 out with her dear old Mrs. Weeks, who could, with 
 some effort, concoct as good a squash pie in the elabo 
 rate cuisine of the Hotel De Rosny as Ellen herself 
 had made in Mrs. Odonto's kitchen. 
 
 " Only," said Fergus, gallantly, " it has not exactly 
 the finish and the flavor." 
 
 " Who do you think is coming ?" said he, as he ran 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 43 
 
 in on Wednesday evening. " Perry and his wife have 
 just landed at Brest. The Pereire has had a wonderful 
 trip. They have taken the night train, so as to be 
 vith us to-morrow morning." 
 
 " And to-morrow is Thanksgiving day !" cried 
 Ellen. " Mrs. Weeks and I have contrived every 
 thing as if we were at home. Turkeys, chicken-pies, 
 Marlboro' puddings, cranberry tarts, Washington pies, 
 nuts, figs, and raisins you shall not know you are 
 not in South Slickville. " 
 
 And Fergus said : "As soon as I heard that Minna 
 would be here, I telegraphed for Fritz. Here is his 
 answer. He could not arrive on the regular mail- train ; 
 but he has chartered a special engine and is crossing 
 from Saxony, a hundred kilometres an hour, at this 
 living moment, to be with you at breakfast-time to 
 morrow. He does not say, but I hope his little wife 
 is with him." 
 
 And his little wife was with him ; and Minna for the 
 reader sees that Minna is Mrs. Perry Minna and her 
 husband and that big Ralph were, happily, at the 
 Hotel De Rosny at nine o'clock. And there she met 
 her blushing new sister ; and the big, red-faced, red- 
 whiskered Fritz stood behind the door, and caught his 
 sister and almost crushed her in his arms. This time 
 he surprised her as much as she had surprised him at 1 
 Santa Madre. 
 
 As they sat, after dinner, just these six, after going 
 back over every queer experience of that wild life of 
 Santa Madre, and of San Xavier, and Guaymas, and 
 memories of old Father Kino and the rest, Fergus 
 said : " I dined with a queer set yesterday. It was at 
 the minister's minister of finance, you know. We 
 had this young Rothschild and Monte Cristo's son 
 
44 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 (who is a quiet, well-informed fellow ; speaks English 
 as well as you do), one of Van Beest's people, the pres 
 ident of the Bank of England, and the president of the 
 Bank of France only we seven and the three ladies of 
 the house. It was charming to see how they cut the 
 shop. You would not have known that there was a 
 silver dollar or a gold napoleon in the world. On the 
 other hand, we almost pretended that the minister had 
 dug the potatoes with his own hand ; that Madame 
 had milked the cows and made the butter ; that Roths 
 child had been a-fishing and brought in the dorado ; 
 and that Mademoiselle what is her name ? had 
 cooked the whole. We were Arcadian in our simplicity. 
 
 " But, as we talked after dinner, we all drew up 
 round the fire just as if we had been in England or at 
 home and Mile. Clara drew out young Monte Cristo 
 very prettily. You see there were not too many of 
 us to talk across the fireplace and all to join. You will 
 guess that the general talk hushed, by one of the spells 
 that fall sometimes, when he said : 
 
 1 Oh, my father's love for the dear Abb6 passed 
 the love of angels for each other. ' 
 
 " ' Why,' cried Ellen, ' the Abbe was the man in the 
 Chateau d'lf who taught Monte Cristo language and 
 told him where the diamonds were/ 
 
 ' Yes,' said Fergus. ' We were all still as mice to 
 hear young Monte Cristo say : " Every step of my 
 father's prosperity afterward followed on that love of 
 his for the dear Abbe and of the Abb6 for him. My 
 father was a hard hater ; but when he died he said to 
 me : ' Remember that the secret of success is love. ' 
 That is my motto, Mademoiselle," he said, and that 
 with no nonsense in his tone.' 
 
 " The girl apprehended his mood, saw that he would 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 45 
 
 prefer to be silent, and turned to young Rothschild. 
 4 And what do you say, M. le Baron ? ' said she. 
 ' What pretty story can you tell us to teach us the 
 secret of success ? ' 
 
 ' My story is very easily told, ' said he. ' It is the 
 one tradition of our house. Rothschild Brothers is 
 Rothschild Brothers because the brothers of the old 
 firm lived like brothers. They had no separate 
 accounts. Each man lived for the whole. When you 
 have asked all your questions, Mademoiselle, I will tell 
 you a little story of the early days. ' 
 
 ' 'And you, Mr. Newland ? ' said the girl, laughing, 
 and turning to the president of the Bank of England. 
 
 ' Oh/ said he, ' you must ask our friend here if 
 he ever failed us when we needed him. ' And then, 
 with his English pride, he added : ' Or if we ever failed 
 him.' He turned to the old gray-haired president of 
 the Bank of France ; and he smiled and bowed assent, 
 well pleased, indeed, with all the dignity of the old 
 regime. 
 
 " The thing was growing serious. These gentlemen 
 took it au serieux, indeed. But the girl did not 
 blench. 
 
 ' And you, Mr. Van Beest what do they say in 
 Holland?' 
 
 ' They say, Mademoiselle, that if a furlong of the 
 dike gives way half a state is deluged. But they say 
 that when every yard of the dike is riveted in with 
 every other yard, we defy ocean itself. Mademoiselle, 
 it is the infinite of the spirit against the infinite of the 
 waves. ' 
 
 ' The girl was serious now ; but she had begun her 
 catechism, and she would finish it. So she turned to 
 me. 
 
46 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE 
 
 ' M. Menet,' she said, ' what commands success in 
 America ? ' 
 
 " I pressed my seal ring so, just above the ' line of 
 life' on her hand, upon the plump white ball below her 
 thumb, and I said : 
 
 ' Mademoiselle, if you could see what I have 
 printed on your hand, you would read the word 
 "TOGETHER." '" 
 
 " Do you tell me," said the excited Mrs. Frechette, 
 almost screaming and dropping a brushful of cobalt 
 blue full on the high light of a snow-drift in her draw 
 ing, " do you tell me that this man in a buffalo coat, 
 who lifted Miss Bourn so easily, is the great bonanza 
 man ?" 
 
 " No ; the great bonanza man came after him. He 
 is the one with a red silk handkerchief round his throat. 
 I do not know the name of the forward man." 
 
 But at this moment the front door of the palace 
 opened, and Hector Van Sandfoord appeared, fol 
 lowed by Mr. Menet and Mr. Decker, whom he intro 
 duced to the ladies. 
 
 It required all Mrs. Frechette's promptness to receive 
 them as if she had been discussing colors or politics 
 or religion the instant before, and had not been read 
 ing the biography of one of them. As for Mary Van 
 Sandfoord, she simply bowed as the gentlemen were 
 presented, and Theodora, as an invalid, might be per 
 mitted to be a little flushed. Mrs. Hackmatack, who 
 was really the least guilty of the party, hoped nobody 
 would notice her, and, in truth, no one did. 
 
 " Do not let us break up your reading," said Mr. 
 Menet, after Caesar had placed two light chairs for 
 
PAUL DECKER AND THEODORA BOURN. 47 
 
 them in the passage-way. And he actually put out 
 his hand for the guilty story, which was still lying on 
 Mary's open bag. 
 
 But, with that infinite promptness of woman's guilt, 
 Mary was beforehand with him. 
 
 " No," she said, as she laid back the paper in the 
 bag, and drew out a little volume of H. H.'s essays. 
 41 It was only a little Thanksgiving story I was show 
 ing to Mrs. Frechette. Do you rememer Helen Hunt's 
 account of her first passage through the mountains?" 
 
 Guilty Mary Van Sandfoord, and wise as the serpent 
 who first tempted her kind ! 
 
 Mr. Menet did not remember ; but he was glad if 
 they had heart to talk about Thanksgiving. Were they 
 not afraid that they should lose their Christmas? 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SNOW-BOUND NAHUM BARROW'S REVENGE. 
 
 AND so came to the ladies the full announcement of 
 what had been clear enough to the men long before, but 
 what had not been formally proclaimed in the palace, 
 in the confusion of the loss and the rescue. With this 
 long detention, now counting seven or eight hours, 
 there was no chance whatever of reaching Council 
 Bluffs at four o'clock on Christmas eve, or the after 
 noon of Christmas eve, as the schedule time proposed. 
 Lucky, indeed, if they were at Council Bluffs at mid 
 night. 
 
 Still, Mary Van Sandfoord was clear that they could 
 run out by a morning train to Hastings, and that the 
 Corneaus would meet them at the station. 
 
 Hopeful Mary ! 
 
 As for Theodora Bourn, she was more indifferent to 
 the Corneaus. 
 
 The through passengers in a well-arranged Pullman 
 grow to a feeling of possession in it, akin to the feeling 
 of a passenger on a well-arranged White Star packet. 
 One is more at home with Cassar or with John, the 
 porter, than he is with the bumptious or the ignorant 
 waiter at the Hag-daggery-dag Hotel, whom he never 
 saw before, and never will see again. The Corneaus's 
 house was not the Hag-daggery-dag Hotel, but it was a 
 new place for poor Theodora. It meant one more set 
 of new faces to be seen, new names to be learned, and 
 
SNOW-BOUND N AHUM HARROW'S REVENGE. 49 
 
 the girl had had oh, so much of that experience in 
 this last year, that she shrank from it. While in the 
 palace, she knew where she was, and could call it, if 
 she chose, her home. 
 
 At this moment, too, Mr. Decker at her side, having 
 made every inquiry about her health, and having been 
 thanked most prettily for his help, was boldly and skil 
 fully turning the subject from the accident and rescue, 
 as if it were the most insignificant affair. He caught 
 at the hint which the word " Thanksgiving" gave, and 
 made some absurd story of the effort he, with some 
 friends he had visited on a ranch, had made for a 
 Thanksgiving dinner. The story was nothing, but it 
 was enough to laugh at, and drew from Theodora 
 some little experience in housekeeping on the actual 
 shore of the Pacific. In that region she had seen more 
 than he indeed, he said, laughing, that he was only 
 an in-doors miner that he knew his pots and crucibles 
 and agents and re-agents better than he did the trees 
 and the mountains. " A laboratory, alas, is much the 
 same in Arizona as in Freiberg, Miss Bourn." 
 
 'You will never persuade me that you are any 
 carpet knight," said Theodora frankly. "At least 
 you can wear snow-shoes." 
 
 " Oh, as to that, it is the accomplishment of a 
 gentleman in some countries. 
 
 " At the finest dinner-party I ever saw there was an 
 English officer of rank, who was telling us most curious 
 things about Hudson's Bay and the northern Rockies. 
 He said he had crossed from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 at one time and another. Some man asked him how 
 he went, and he said : ' I walked.' 
 
 " Really, Miss Bourn, that man had ivalked, and, 
 most of the way, on snow-shoes. And I have seen 
 
50 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 ladies walk on snow-shoes too, and they walked very 
 prettily and very well." 
 
 " I will have a pair," said Theodora, " before I go 
 after my veil again. 
 
 " Are you a New Englander ?" asked he, determined 
 again to get off the adventure of the morning. 
 
 " My mother was. My father was from the West 
 India Islands. But we always kept Thanksgiving, as 
 I tell you." 
 
 " I am a regular Down- Easter. I came from where 
 they jump off. We have a capital Thanksgiving story 
 of the Revolution in our family ;" and he was going to 
 open on the story, when Theodora said : 
 
 " No, Mr. Decker, if there is a story to tell, it is 
 common property." And turning to the others she 
 said : " Mr. Decker is going to tell us all a Thanksgiv 
 ing story of the Revolution." 
 
 Now, the truth was that Mr. Decker would greatly 
 have preferred to talk to Miss Theodora alone. But 
 he was a gentleman, and when he found the turn things 
 had taken, he said he would rather not try to tell the 
 story. A kinsman of his had written it out, and, as it 
 happened, he had it in a pocket of his overcoat. He 
 produced an envelope somewhat thumbed, took from 
 it a scrap of newspaper, and read them the story of 
 
 NAHUM BARROW'S REVENGE. 
 
 A THANKSGIVING TALE. 
 
 NAHUM BARROW wason his way north, through 
 Virginia, with private despatches from General Greene 
 to Washington, at the headquarters of the army. He 
 had pressed the horse he rode rather faster than the 
 result justified ; and when, late on Wednesday night, 
 he rode into the home-inclosures of the plantation, 
 
SNOW-BOUND NAHUM BARROW'S REVENGE. 51 
 
 of which, for an hour, he had watched the smoke, he 
 was glad to believe that so generous an establishment 
 would have a professed blacksmith among its slaves, for 
 the mare had been going on three shoes all the after 
 noon, and, for the last hour, one of them had dis 
 appeared. The sun had fairly set by the time Nahum 
 and the mare arrived at the house itself. A sort of 
 sedateness hung over the place, which Nahum found it 
 hard to explain to himself ; nor was there the noisy 
 and eager gathering of the clans which he was used to 
 now in his Virginian experiences. But this reticence 
 was explained, after he had knocked at the door, by 
 the appearance of the host on whose comfortable 
 quarters Nahum had billeted himself ; for, as Nahum 
 saw in a moment, this was one of the Society of 
 Friends. A tall man, of severe but yet benevolent 
 enough face, held a candle above his head,- to see what 
 manner of man it was who knocked so freely. 
 
 Nahum asked if he could receive a night's hospital 
 ity, which was readily granted. He dismounted, and 
 asked his friend's advice about the mare. A lantern 
 was brought, for it need not be said that the candle had 
 been immediately extinguished by the wind. The ex 
 amination which followed showed not only that she 
 had but two shoes, but, which Nahum had not known, 
 that one of her legs was bleeding. 
 
 " Got into a hole with her in the corduroy, where 
 the wood-road comes in," said Nahum. " It's half an 
 hour back ; but the old critter scrabbled out so spry 
 that she didn't give me no chance to get off and see 
 if she'd scraped herself." 
 
 " I wish there were any road-master," said the 
 other ; " but they do not know what that word means. 
 Nor do they know well what he would do if he were 
 
52 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 here. Did thee find the road better this side the 
 creek?" 
 
 " Fust-rate," said Nahum, guessing rightly that at 
 the creek his Quaker friend's plantation began. And 
 then he followed in a eulogy true enough, but per 
 haps a little suspicious of the neatness of all the 
 arrangements of the farm around him. These eulogies 
 neither deterred nor hastened Reuben Dyer, as he took 
 off the trooper's saddle-bags and his saddle ; as he led 
 the mare to water, which she refused ; and as, with such 
 appliances as the well-furnished stable afforded, he 
 washed and dressed the wounded leg. In all these 
 offices Nahum attempted to do his full share ; but his 
 host construed a host's duties in the largest sense. 
 He hardly permitted Nahum's presence, as he himself 
 attended to the mare, and even rubbed her down with 
 his own hands. Two tall negro boys stood by, admir 
 ing ; but, excepting to hold the lanterns and once and 
 again to do an errand, they left the mare's business in 
 their master's hands. 
 
 After half an hour of such careful work, it was clear 
 enough that nothing more could be done for the poor 
 beast, and Nahum and his host returned to the house. 
 
 In the midst of the decorous reticence of the house 
 hold and an occasional formal statement which indi 
 cated a theoretical dislike of the profession of arms, the 
 trooper soon saw that his presence was not disagreeable. 
 He was a little tempted to play with the professed 
 pacific habit of the household, to affect that there was 
 no war, and to hang up his sword on the wooden pin 
 in the wall, as he might hang up a riding-whip. If 
 they did not want to know where Greene had come to, 
 why should he tell them ? If they were willing to take 
 
SNO IV-BO UND ~ A T A HUAf . BA RRO W ' S RE VENGE. 5 3 
 
 the chances of Cornwallis's raiding through their farms, 
 and Tarleton's driving off their horses, and the swift 
 commissariat of both at work in killing their cattle, 
 why should Nahum Barrow care ? He could talk about 
 Virginia fences, as contrasted with stone walls ; or he 
 could discuss the points of a Durham bull ; he could 
 give an opinion as to the price of tobacco ; nay, if need 
 were, he could hold his tongue. Quakers can be reti 
 cent when there is need ; but a Connecticut boy of 
 twenty-three, bred under the traditions of the grumpy 
 silence of Uncas and his Pequots, can be as mum as 
 the best of them, if he feel necessity. 
 
 But such fell resolutions of telling no war stories 
 melted away beneath the genial kindness of the 
 motherly head of the household ; beneath the modest 
 smiles of a certain pretty Martha, who gave her per 
 sonal attention to the waffles which crowned the feast 
 which awaited Nahum ; and beneath the rapturous 
 admiration of Thomas and Elnathan, two fine boys, 
 who could scarcely keep their well-bred hands off the 
 trooper's haversack, and occasionally retired into the 
 hall, to worship the sabre which hung there, with such 
 admiring glances as the Ashantee fanatic is supposed to 
 bestow upon his fetish. These traits of consideration 
 disarmed Nahum, and as the generous Bohea entered 
 into the machinery of his system and quickened his 
 life ; as his hunger appeased itself after one and 
 another charge upon the " chicken fixings" which had 
 been placed before him ; when, with a fresh fork and 
 knife he advanced to deal with the waffles, in their 
 turn, he opened freely, as a lonely soldier should, upon 
 the war and its history and its future. He fought 
 Monmouth over again ; he detailed with humor even 
 the critical passages in his own experiences at Hotham's 
 
54 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Neck ; he explained, as far as a prudent subaltern 
 might, the resources on which Greene must rely ; and 
 he digressed, with what he thought excusable exag 
 geration, upon the matchless resources of Cornwallis 
 and Tarleton. Of these last he knew, in truth, as little 
 as this reader, and that is saying a good deal ; but, 
 with the wisdom of a serpent, Nahum said to himself : 
 " Ef these people aren't a little skeered, they won't 
 give the General any supplies. Little enough he gets 
 from them now." Supposing, incorrectly, that his 
 laudable end would justify his unworthy means, the 
 soldier, therefore, dashed into statements as to Corn 
 wallis and his forces for which he was largely indebted 
 to his imagination. 
 
 The evening passed pleasantly in this exciting talk, 
 and it was an hour later than usual when all parties 
 went to bed. 
 
 The next morning brought another sight at Reuben 
 Dyer's plantation. The wind had come round to the 
 northwest, and at the earliest dawn there was already 
 half an inch of snow on the fields, and the trees were 
 taking on the most grotesque forms. At breakfast-time 
 snow was still falling. Nor had the diagnosis of the 
 mare's leg proved favorable. Reuben Dyer had 
 expressed his readiness to shoe her, and the trooper 
 had yielded to Reuben's superior knowledge of 
 farriery ; but the poor creature limped so sadly when 
 she was led to water that it seemed cruel to take her 
 out on roads so far snow-covered that she could not 
 see where her feet would fall. 
 
 ' If thy errand requires haste," said Reuben, " thee 
 shall be made welcome to either of my horses ; but 
 they are more fit for draught than for fast riding. My 
 
SNOW-BOUND N AHUM HARROW'S REVENGE. 55 
 
 pacer, of which the boy Elnathan spake to thee, is, as 
 he told thee, at Alexandria." 
 
 Nahum had himself taken a surreptitious look at the 
 horses, and, while he respected their good points, had 
 concluded that he could make better time in forty- 
 eight hours on his own feet than on theirs. He 
 reserved his decision, however, till a certain Mike 
 Slaughter, who was the authority on the subject of 
 horses' ailments, could be consulted. Doctor or quack, 
 he should determine whether the mare could or could 
 not go on. As the day passed, Nahum determined 
 that he should make the best speed by accepting the 
 Quaker's hospitable invitation, and spending another 
 night. When he announced this decision, however, 
 he received a severe wound from his hostess. 
 
 " Mr. Dyer wants me to stay the night," said 
 Nahum cheerily to her, as he entered her kitchen ; 
 " 'n' I guess I will. It's Thanksgivin' day, 'n' I don't 
 want to travel, ef the country's service don't require it. 
 We'll keep our Thanksgivin' together, Miss Marthy. " 
 
 " Keep what ?" said the pretty girl, startled. 
 
 " Keep Thanksgivin' !" said the astonished Nahum, 
 with his eyes opened. " Ain't your meetin* open?" 
 
 'There are so few Friends in the county," said 
 Prudence Dyer, Martha's mother, who stepped to the 
 fore, " that we have no regular meeting on Fifth Day, 
 nor, indeed, on First Day, unless some Friend pass 
 in travel." 
 
 "But you keep Thanksgivin' day?" persisted the 
 trooper. 
 
 The woman stared as her daughter had done. It 
 soon appeared that she had no more idea than Martha 
 had of what he was talking about. Nahum drew from 
 his inner pocket a well-worn copy of the Connecticut 
 
56 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Courant. He pointed to them Governor Trumbull's 
 1 '' Proclamation for a day of Public Thanksgiving and 
 Praise." " Ef I was down to Tolland," said he. 
 t: I should be jest now goin' to meetin'. 'N' the girls, 
 Miss Marthy, would be steppin' round spry, with the 
 chickens and the old gobbler, I tell you. They's only 
 one thing missin' there to-day ; you be sure of that." 
 And to Martha's inquiring look, with a broken voice, 
 not wholly soldierly, he said : " The old man would 
 have a better time ef I looked in on um jest as they 
 was fittin' off f meet'n'." 
 
 The women stopped in their work and listened with 
 as much curiosity as they would have done had Lady 
 Mary Wortley Montagu described to them a dance of 
 wild dervishes ; but Nahum's rather voluble narrative 
 was broken by Reuben Dyer's entrance. He heard the 
 young man to the end of his eager home memories, 
 and then said : 
 
 'We have neither time nor disposition for such 
 fooleries, young man. If the Almighty God had wished 
 these observances, he would not leave the announce 
 ment to the civil magistrates. He hath simpler 
 methods of proclaiming His will than the newspapers. 
 Prudence," he continued, " we will keep thy goose for 
 another day's dinner. There is enough left of the 
 hominy and pork for to-day. Young man," he add 
 ed, with a certain asperity which Nahum had not 
 observed before, " if thee wishes to see Michael 
 Slaughter, he is coming down the hill." 
 
 Nahum understood very, well that he was in no posi 
 tion to discuss matters with his host ; but one conse 
 quence of this little passage at arms was that he pro 
 nounced the mare's leg good for ten miles, if he rode 
 her with care, and left his hosts with a cordial enough 
 
SNOW-BOUXDXATTUM BARROWS REVENGE. 57 
 
 good-by, while he had two hours of daylight before 
 him. 
 
 It was more than a year before Nahum Barrow met 
 his Friendly hosts again. I will not say that he did not 
 sometimes think of that pretty and deft little Martha ; 
 I will not say that the quiet little Quakeress did not 
 sometimes think of him ; but the reader of this reminis 
 cence of a hundred years ago must not build too much 
 on those expressions of mine. Spring and summer 
 passed. Cornwallis came up as near as Hanover Court - 
 House, and Reuben Dyer recognized that fact so far 
 that he had four cows driven into a fastness in the wilder 
 ness, and that, at dead of night, he buried with his own 
 hands a box which held forty or fifty joes and a hundred 
 Spanish dollars and six silver teaspoons. Then Corn 
 wallis went back to James River, and the spoons were 
 dug up again and the cattle came back from the 
 swamp. The crops were all well in at last, the harder 
 duties of harvest were finished, and on a lovely after 
 noon, at the very end of St. Martin's summer, our 
 pretty Martha and her mother, Prudence (scarcely less 
 charming), were standing on the broad step, watching 
 the glories of the west, as the sun sank rapidly behind 
 the Blue Ridge. Reuben would not have confessed 
 that the glory of sunset had lured him from his work. 
 All the same it had. The women would have con 
 fessed this for themselves. Nor would it have hurt 
 Reuben to confess it. 
 
 Of a sudden the well-remembered mare clattered up 
 the roadway at a hard gallop, guided by the well- 
 remembered Nahum. My pretty Martha fairly 
 blushed, so provoked was she because she was thinking 
 of him before he came, and so she looked prettier than 
 ever. The handsome trooper gave his hand cordially 
 
58 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 to each of them, and then was off the saddle in a 
 moment. He had come, he said, with the compliments 
 of Major Rice and Colonel Huntington, of the Fourth 
 Connecticut Brigade, who were about an hour behind 
 him. If it were not disagreeable to Friend Dyer, they 
 would be pleased if the brigade might bivouac for the 
 night upon the pasture which Nahum remembered by 
 the corn-barn. Reuben Dyer might be sure that the 
 men would be careful, and would ask for nothing but 
 water, and would burn nothing but brush. 
 
 Joy leaped to Martha's eyes. At last she should see 
 an army, or a part of an army she who had never seen 
 any soldier but Nahum Barrow. Indeed, a calm cheer 
 fulness stole over the face of Prudence ; and Reuben 
 himself showed all the cordiality of a Virginian and all 
 the hospitality of a Friend, as he returned his manly 
 answer : 
 
 " Say to thy friends that we are glad they have 
 chosen this road." 
 
 Nahum did not whisper that it was he who had 
 chosen the road and suggested it to Colonel Hunting- 
 ton. 
 
 " If thee will sleep thyself in the room thee had last 
 year, thee can bring as many of thy friends as thee 
 chooses. In the rest of the house Prudence and 
 Martha made beds for the twenty-three Friends when 
 the yearly meeting was last here, and they can do the 
 same now. Then there is the stable, and the old stable 
 that thee has not seen, and the corn-bins, and William 
 Waylen's tobacco-shed. As for water, the boys shall 
 draw some casks for thy friends, so that they need not 
 go to the creek ; but as thee says the men are prudent, 
 I will bid Jotham haul a cask of cider also to the past 
 ure before they come. The night may be cold." 
 
SNOW-BOUND- NAHUM BARROW'S REVENGE. 59 
 
 Nahum was well pleased that he had not miscalcu 
 lated his friends' hospitality. He thanked them cor 
 dially, said he should soon return, and rode back with 
 his tidings. Martha and Prudence, with the help of 
 the boy, Archippus, sprang to their task, if one may 
 use a healthy piece of the vernacular. Reuben called 
 Jotham, and the two rolled a generous cask of cider 
 upon a drag, and placed it upon skids convenient, just 
 where they took down two lengths of Virginia fence 
 for the entrance of the soldiers into their camp-ground. 
 They were placing two large casks of water on the 
 skids when a large party of horsemen, well mounted, 
 rode up to the house, guided by Nahum. These were 
 Colonel Huntington, with the gentlemen of his personal 
 staff, and, indeed, almost all the staff-officers of the 
 brigade. The more studied courtesies of the camp 
 mingled charmingly with the inborn courtesy of 
 Quaker life. These polished gentlemen showed their 
 hosts in a hundred ways how grateful they were for a 
 reception so cordial. On the other hand, without say 
 ing so in words, Reuben's family found as many ways 
 to show that, in spite of their disapproval of war, they 
 were glad Cornwallis was a prisoner and thankful to 
 the gallant men who had arrested his career. 
 
 Early the next morning, as the pearly gray of the 
 sky showed that a perfect day was before them, Colonel 
 Huntington waited on Reuben Dyer, whom he found 
 at his wood-pile, directing the loading of a cord or 
 two of .wood, which he was sending off to the regi 
 mental camp-fire. 
 
 ' The men may not have the tools or the time to cut 
 it," he said to the colonel. 
 
 The colonel thanked him, and then said that he 
 
60 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 and all his officers were most grateful for these cour 
 tesies. Would it be presuming too much if they 
 availed themselves of such perfect weather and of the 
 neighborhood of such friends, and permitted the men 
 to rest themselves all day ? Their march had been 
 rapid till now, and he did not care to have the men 
 spend more time than the Sabbath itself at Alex 
 andria. 
 
 ' Thee can easily reach Alexandria by Seventh-Day 
 evening, if thee does not march till to-morrow morn 
 ing," said the Quaker, promptly, almost eagerly. 
 " Let the poor fellows stay ; let them stay. I am 
 only sorry we have not barns as big as thee will find in 
 Lancaster," he said, remembering fondly the farming 
 of his boyhood. 
 
 "One thing more," said the courtly colonel, " for 
 you have learned before this in life that beggars are 
 apt to be choosers. Would thy friend, Waylen, in 
 whose tobacco-shed the boys of my own regiment have 
 been snoring so loudly would he object to have some 
 of them hold a meeting there this morning ? One of 
 the officers is moved to address the men on the 
 manifold exhibitions of Divine goodness in this sur 
 render ; but he will rather speak to them in the woods 
 than offend friends so kindly." 
 
 ' William Waylen object to a fifth-day meeting, if I 
 call one ?" This was the first exclamation of Reuben ; 
 but in an instant he controlled the rising flame. In 
 language more decorous he said that he knew his 
 neighbor, and all his family would wish to be present, 
 and that he should send one of his negro boys to the 
 neighboring houses and notify all. 
 
 " Ask that the poor blacks may come themselves, 
 also," said Colonel Huntington, and there was enough 
 
SNOW-BOUND N AHUM BARROW'S REVENGE. 61 
 
 in his intonation to show Reuben Dyer that he and his 
 guest were at one in their notions about these people. 
 Thus simply was it settled that the old tobacco-shed, 
 which for years had not been used for the purpose it 
 was built for, should be this day a crowded temple. 
 At ten o'clock, to the delight, scarcely disguised, of 
 Martha, the different regiments, in their best holiday 
 trim, marched by the house in order. For the first 
 time in her life, she heard a band of military music. 
 Governor Hazen's brigade band, in the intimacies of the 
 weeks since Yorktown, had picked up from a Hessian 
 band-master the music from the march in "Judas 
 Maccabseus," and for the first time this girl knew the 
 wonders of Handel. Neither she nor her mother knew 
 what was meant by the elegance of a marching salute, 
 as the regiments passed the door ; but it seemed to 
 Martha hardly the same world as that which had moved 
 by so quietly only the day before. In the chaise, 
 which had been made ready by Jotham, she and her 
 mother followed to the improvised meeting-house, and 
 there they took the places reserved for them in the 
 midst of the great assembly. She saw that there was 
 more than one elder on the bench which fronted them. 
 She heard a thousand voices join in singing : 
 
 " Be Thou, O God, exalted high !" 
 
 Her whole heart was with the eager, pale young man 
 who, in prayer, praised God for such marvellous bless 
 ings as seemed opening on the country. The most 
 glowing language of the Book of Revelation and of 
 the Psalms of David was none too high for his thank 
 fulness nor for hers, and she felt that the " goodness, 
 new every morning and fresh every evening," was the 
 only adequate explanation of the blessedness which had 
 
62 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 come to hearts which for years had been bowed down 
 in anxiety, or to homes like hers, now just set free 
 from the fear of sword and fire. 
 
 A taller and older man then rose to address them ; 
 not at great length (the army had cured them all of 
 long speeches), but with a crisp, sharp, dry manner of 
 speech, yet quite unlike the preachers whom Martha 
 had heard at quarterly meetings. " He hath made of 
 a city a heap ; of a defenced city a ruin ; a palace of 
 strangers to be no city. It shall never be built." He 
 began with these words, sharply emphasized. He did 
 not condescend to say where they came from ; but 
 Martha could see that Colonel Huntington, in a Bible 
 he held in his hand, turned quickly to the place and 
 smiled his approval of the selection. With free disre 
 gard of Jerusalem, or of Samaria, or of any Eastern 
 city, the speaker led his hearers at once to that fenced 
 city of Yorktown which the Lord had just destroyed by 
 their enginery. The death of Scammell, whom these 
 boys adored ; the storm of the two redoubts ; the wav 
 ing of the handkerchief of surrender ; the stately march 
 of the final ceremony all were described in language 
 half of New England and half from the Hebrew texts. 
 The men listened eagerly, with their mouths half open 
 and with eyes fixed upon him. When he closed, cry 
 ing out in a rapturous outburst, " To Thee, the Lord 
 of Hosts, in whose might kings reign and nations are 
 born, to Thee and to thy great name be all the glory 
 and all the praise," Colonel Huntington and more 
 than one of those around him broke out, unconsciously 
 even, into ejaculations of " Amen." 
 
 As the meeting broke up, a tall Virginian, standing 
 on a large stump in the roadway, invited all who were 
 present to join in a barbecue, which he said had been 
 
SNOW-BOUND NAHUM BORROWS REVENGE. 63 
 
 suddenly arranged in the edge of a grove close at 
 hand. ' Three good porkers," said he, " and as hand 
 some a steer as there is in Fairfax County has been 
 roasting there since daybreak. Nothing's too good 
 for them as scotched my Lord Cornwallis. " 
 
 ' The ranks of Tuscany" did not forget to cheer 
 when this announcement was made. Colonel Hunt- 
 ington nodded to the gentlemen of his staff, and they 
 ran to the line officers to give the general's permis 
 sion. 
 
 Reuben was fearful, when he saw this, that his plans 
 might be broken in upon, and said hastily : . > 
 
 " No, no, friend Huntington, this is not forthee and 
 for these" (gentlemen, he would have said, but that the 
 memories of George Fox forbade) " for these friends. 
 If thee will dine at our house, thee will see that we 
 have made ready. Friend Meadows will be there and 
 Elizabeth Meadows, Friend Wingfield also, and Mary 
 Wingfield, and some other Friends." 
 
 It was clear enough that the barbecue was for the 
 men, and some other provision for the staff. 
 
 And so it shortly proved. In the absence of the 
 worshippers at the tobacco-shed, long tables had been 
 set in the hall, in the kitchen, in the sitting-room, 
 and in the " best room" of Friend Dyer's house. 
 They ran transversely from corner to corner, so as to 
 give the utmost possible room for those who served the 
 feast. Indeed, there was no room in the house where 
 the brilliant staff and the line officers could assemble, 
 and they stood chatting in front, under the great locust 
 trees, until notice was given that the party in the 
 kitchen had brought across the viands with which the 
 feast was to begin. Then Colonel Huntington was 
 led to the head of one table, Major Fish to the head 
 
64 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 of another, while Reuben himself sat at the head of 
 a third. For a minute there was a dead-hush silence, 
 as silently each guest asked a blessing, and then the 
 gay company fell to. Prudence, and Martha, and Eliz 
 abeth, and Mary, and other Friends of that sex who 
 cannot be named ; Jotham, and Archippus, and I know 
 not how many grinning boys of their color, with Phebe, 
 and Dorcas, and other girls as black as they, passed 
 from the kitchen to the tables and back again, and 
 with one and another dainty, in which Virginian cookery 
 and Quaker science were combined, supplied the festi 
 val. Haunches of venison, and great turkeys from the 
 forest, and ducks and chickens and geese from the 
 poultry-yard, with every curious variety of pastry and 
 of preserve, had been brought in from ten miles around. 
 Nahum Barrow found his place near the foot of his 
 colonel's table. It had been intimated to him that all 
 parties would be more at ease if he remained at the 
 homestead and did not join in the barbecue, and 
 Nahum had his own reasons for complying. 
 
 It must be confessed that the customs of that age 
 were not the customs of this. It soon proved that the 
 additional casks of cider, which had been sent to the 
 barbecue, had not exhausted Reuben Dyer's store ; 
 and Major Fish and Colonel Antill, claiming the priv 
 ileges of billeted officers, had sent their orderlies to 
 the wagon-master, with orders for some Port and 
 Madeira, which had been discovered in Cornwallis's 
 pillage collected at Yorktown. But the occasion 
 needed no wine for its merriment. Home was before 
 them all. Peace had come after war. Here were men 
 who were to see children who had been born since 
 they left their firesides. All were men who had done 
 the thing they resolved to do. The skies were bright, 
 
SNOW-BOUND NAHUM ^BARROW'S REVENGE. 65 
 
 " 
 
 the future was fair. They were happy and they meant 
 to be. 
 
 It was taken for granted that Reuben's prejudices 
 would yield so far that they might drink a few toasts, 
 and, with exuberant enthusiasm, " the Honorable Con 
 gress," ''His Excellency the Commander-in Chief," 
 " His Most Christian Majesty King Louis," were 
 toasted in their turn. It was after the clapping of 
 hands subsided, which followed a little speech made 
 by Lieutenant de M6nonville, in very funny, broken 
 English, by way of acknowledging the compliment to 
 his sovereign, that Colonel Huntington called to 
 Nahum, at the other end of the table. Through the 
 large doors into the generous hall, the party at the 
 hall table could see and hear the whole. 
 
 " Sergeant Barrow," said he, " was there nothing in 
 the Courant I handed you which our friends would be 
 glad to hear?" 
 
 They all knew that the colonel had received a des 
 patch from the North while they were in the tobacco- 
 shed. 
 
 Then Nahum rose to his full height. He was in his 
 best spirits. He held a Connecticut Courant so folded 
 that he could read one column with ease. 
 
 "BY HIS EXCELLENCY JONATHAN TRUMBULL. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION 
 
 for a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise ! 
 
 "Whereas: 
 
 " It hath pleased the Most High God, blessed forever, the 
 Supreme and Righteous Ruler of the World, to answer the 
 Prayers of His People in the Thirteen United States of America 
 by Displays of His Great Might and Unerring Providence, such as 
 no People have deserved, and such as make Nations and Sover- 
 
66 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 eigns bow their Heads in Wonder ; and, Whereas, He hath led 
 our Leaders, and taught our Counsellors, and given Courage to 
 our Soldiers, and Victory to our Armies ; and, Whereas, He 
 hath watched over the gallant Generals who have led to us from 
 another Continent the loyal Armies of our August Ally ; 
 
 "And, Whereas: He hath been graciously pleased, in His 
 Constant Mercy, to cause an Abundance of the Fruits of the 
 Earth to be produced for our Sustenance, to give Comfort to our 
 People, and to supply our Armies ; and, 
 "Finally and Conspicuously : 
 
 "Whereas: He hath been pleased to confound the Counsels 
 of the Foes of Freedom, and to direct that a British general of 
 the first Rank, with his whole Army, should be captured by the 
 Allied Forces under the direction of the American Commander- 
 in-Chief, 
 
 " I have, therefore, thought fit, by and with the Advice of the 
 Council, to appoint, and do hereby appoint, Thursday, the elev 
 enth day of December next, to be observed as a day of Thanks 
 giving and Praise, throughout the State of Connecticut, hereby 
 exhorting our Ministers and People of all Denominations of 
 Christians to observe the same." 
 
 Nahum could hardly finish this sentence audibly ; 
 for every Connecticut man, nay, every New England 
 man around him was clapping and cheering, and it is 
 to be feared that but few of them listened very atten 
 tively to the directions which followed in the long 
 proclamation as to the subjects of prayer and praise. 
 
 But there was silence enough at the end for all to 
 hear again, when Nahum, with his best oratory, made 
 the final proclamation : 
 
 " And all Servile Work is forbidden on said Day. 
 
 "Given under my hand, in the Council Chamber in New 
 Haven, this 3oth day of November, in the sixth year of the Inde 
 pendence of the United States of America, Annoque Domini, 
 1781. JONTH. TRUMBULL. 
 
 11 God Save the United States of America /" 
 
SNOW-BOUND N AHUM BARROW'S REVENGE. 67 
 
 The whole party in all the rooms had now gathered 
 together, so that they could hear. With the closing 
 words all cheered, three times three, as Huntington led 
 the cheering ; and then forty or fifty voices shouted 
 again : " God save the United States of America !" 
 
 The pretty Martha and her charming mother stood 
 behind Reuben, their faces wet with tears, which flowed 
 in the excitement. The staid Reuben himself was 
 standing on his chair, cheering with the most loyal. 
 As he found his feet and the floor again, Major Rice 
 turned to him, and said : 
 
 ' This is what we call a real Yankee Thanksgiving. 
 How can we thank you enough for giving us Thanks 
 giving Day in Virginia?" 
 
 And as Reuben took the broad hand of the major 
 and grasped it, Nahum Barrow felt that 
 
 HE HAD HIS REVENGE. 
 
 Paul Decker read with spirit, and there was quite 
 enough of the New England blood in the veins of his 
 hearers to make them heartily applaud Nahum's 
 success in compelling the Virginia Quaker to give a 
 Thanksgiving feast in spite of itself. 
 
 It added an element of "human pathos," that he 
 declared that Nahum was his own great-grandfather, 
 or that such was the family tradition. 
 
 But reading had already become difficult. For, to 
 the joy of all, the train was again in motion. 
 
 The telegraphic line eastward had found its tongue, 
 aad the liberated train was again on its way. 
 
 So soon as the reading was over, there was a great 
 comparing of watches and time-tables and study of the 
 probable or possible time of arrival at Council Bluffs. 
 
 True Americans as they all were, every one took it 
 
68 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 for granted that all difficulty was now overcome, that 
 the engine-man would even be able to make up some 
 of the "lost" time, and that, in short, from this 
 moment all would be well. 
 
 Theodora declared that she was not going to travel 
 in bed any longer. Cassar was called, and her great 
 couch was beaten into two sofas. She repaired to the 
 dressing-room, and reappeared carefully refitted, and 
 the party went on no longer as a unit, but in groups 
 of twos and twos. 
 
 Fergus Menet talked with the bride ; Hector Van 
 Sandfoord kept Mrs. Hackmatack screaming with 
 laughter ; George Hackmatack discussed the lines of 
 the spectrum and the compensations of color with 
 Mrs. Fr6chette. 
 
 And so it happened, as men say, that Paul Decker 
 and Theodora Bourn sat together and talked together. 
 
 " Happened !" 
 
 As if those three skilful and determined married 
 women, as by foreordination absolute, had not by any 
 fineness of intrigue made it physically impossible that 
 any other combination should be possible. 
 
 And yet, after all this designing, there was not one 
 word which Paul Decker said to her, or which she said 
 to him, which might not be displayed in large letters 
 on a newspaper bulletin in Park Row. They talked 
 of California and Arizona ; of the beach and the 
 mountains ; of canons and Mount Shasta ; of Bret 
 Harte and the Overland Monthly ; of the best way to 
 press eschscholtzias, so that the moisture should not 
 injure the color as they dried ; of the difference be 
 tween nemophila, as it grows wild, and the great grand 
 child, nemophila, when it has been transplanted into 
 gardens. 
 
SNOW-BOUND NAHUM MARROW'S REVENGE. 69 
 
 * 
 
 No, dear Mrs. Frechette, there is not one syllable 
 which you would call sentiment passing between that 
 handsome young man and that timid girl. 
 
 I do observe that she does not seem so timid as she 
 did when we called her Black Ribbons, and she was 
 pitting all alone in Number Three. 
 
 The early dinner of the train came soon, and the 
 ladies were led carefully back to the dining-room. 
 
 Theodora was careful this time, and the moment 
 Mrs. Van Sandfoord took her seat, she sat at her side. 
 
 But Mrs. Frechette was quite equal to such strategy 
 as that. 
 
 There seemed no manoeuvring. But so it was, that 
 when her four were seated the other side of the pas 
 sage, Mr. Decker was left standing. There was then 
 no seat left but that next Mrs. Hackmatack, and that 
 brought the young man opposite Miss Bourn, who had 
 been careful that he should not be at her side. So far 
 Mrs. Frechette was well pleased. 
 
 By this time all parties were skilled in the little 
 science of travelling, and now they succeeded in so spin 
 ning out the changes of courses, that the dinner should 
 take nearly an hour and a half of the day, which was 
 not yet weary. 
 
 Then, as is the custom in palaces, the ladies slept, 
 and the gentlemen retired as if to smoke for an hour. 
 
 But at four in the afternoon the ladies had their 
 novels in their hands, and one and another of the 
 gentlemen came back to the palace. 
 
 They brought cheerful accounts of the prospect. 
 The road was thought to be open, and, by one rosy 
 account, the train had gained a mile and a half in 
 time. 
 
70 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 At the Wild Cat Junction, Menet and Decker had 
 picked up their luggage which had waited for them. 
 
 " I have brought you Mrs. Ville-Fosse's sketch 
 book," he said to Theodora, after he had asked permis 
 sion to join her. " She trusted it to me to carry to 
 one of her Eastern friends. 
 
 " Now, I can show you her studies of my Zufii 
 friends. See how like this dear old priest is to 
 Dante." 
 
 And so they plunged into the luxury of turning over 
 slowly the pages, well-filled with good work, of 
 which each one had some story connected with the 
 events of his really adventurous life in Arizona. For, 
 as Theodora had said of him, Paul Decker was no mere 
 carpet knight. And his exploits, such as they were, 
 really took much wider range than he had pretended, 
 when he spoke of himself as only a man of crucible and 
 blow-pipe. He had voyaged through that deepest 
 canon of all, where the people have as little knowl 
 edge of the upper world as has the poor jackass in a 
 coal-mine. He had hob-a-nobbed with Cochise, and 
 had gone on long scouting parties with the Gray Fox, 
 as the Indians called their true friend, General Crook. 
 
 But he never talked of himself. Freshly and simply 
 he told Theodora only of the wonderful things he had 
 seen, or that others had described for him, and left it 
 almost a matter of guess how he came to have seen 
 them or to hear them. 
 
 And she found herself so at ease with him that she 
 was explaining things in woodland life which he did 
 not understand. She had been in the open air much 
 more than he had much more, indeed, than half her 
 waking life since her babyhood. She knew things 
 in the growth of flowers and shrubs that Decandolle did 
 
SNO W-BO UNDNAHUM^ BA RRO W S RE VENGE. 7 1 
 
 not know nor Linnaeus. ~ Her Indians were not his 
 Apaches, no, indeed, but she could tell him of the 
 half savage, half civil ways of the wretched red-skin 
 stragglers who sometimes came in to barter their forest 
 ware against sugar, in queer little details which lighted 
 up and led along his talk. She forgot herself and he 
 forgot himself in their eager comparing of notes about 
 their experiences of life. 
 
 And so it was that talk passed easily on, till it 
 touched even graver things. 
 
 He had told her of his descent into the Deep Cafion, 
 and she went back to ask him how he first came into 
 it. He told the story in a very animated way. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAUL DECKER'S STORY HANDS OFF LULU'S DOLL. 
 
 PAUL DECKER'S companions had made a long line of 
 cart-ropes, of lassos, even of sound belts, to the lowest 
 of which he was fastened, as being the lightest of the 
 party, and lowered down, nearly two hundred feet. 
 As he neared the bottom, in an awkward swing to 
 clear a projecting rock the whole line trembled, and 
 about midway parted. Half of it fell on his head ; he 
 landed heavily on a pile of the debris from the cliff, 
 and rolled and rolled till he was giddy ; but brought 
 up, just conscious, and in time to save his life, on a 
 great bit of rock. 
 
 " I can laugh at it now, but I did not laugh then," 
 said he, as he told his story to Miss Bourn. 
 
 "No, indeed," cried the eager girl. "Were you 
 not in despair ? You had the line, and they " 
 
 " No, I was not in despair. I was on the rack of 
 curiosity. ' What will happen now ? What will come 
 next ? ' I said. Queer, I remembered Sindbad in his 
 dark hole. Don't you remember? And," he paused 
 a little seriously, " to be quite true to you, Miss Bourn, 
 I remembered the yellow dog." 
 
 He hardly smiled. He looked almost afraid, as if 
 he had gone too far, yet he looked proud and strong. 
 
 Theodora did not in the least understand. 
 
 " What do you mean, Mr. Decker ?" 
 
 " Do you not know, really? Then you do not know 
 
PAUL DECKER' S^STORY, ETC. 73 
 
 what is one of the great comforts of my life. Did 
 you never hear that if a yellow dog had not barked 
 once, this world would not be that you and I should 
 not be here ?" 
 
 "No, indeed! How?" 
 
 11 Why, he was a dog in the Midianites' encampment. 
 You know when they had Joseph as a prisoner, 
 Joseph was escaping in the morning just as I told 
 you our man Foss got off from Cochise and the 
 yellow dog barked at him, and Joseph flung a stone at 
 him. 
 
 " If Joseph had killed him, why there would never 
 have been corn in Egypt when it was wanted, and you 
 see what would happen. 
 
 " Joseph did not hit him. He was taken again, and 
 well the world is what it is. ' ' 
 
 " I am glad you tell me this," said Theodora, care 
 fully, and even gratefully. " I think it will make my 
 life easier to me sometimes. Do you say it is written 
 out and printed ?" 
 
 " I have it in an old Harper's," he said. And 
 afterward he found it for her and gave it to her. 
 
 It is the story of 
 
 HANDS OFF, 
 
 I was in another stage of existence. I was free from 
 the limits of Time, and in new relations to Space. 
 
 Such is the poverty of the English language that I 
 am obliged to use past tenses in my descriptions. We 
 might have a verb which should have many forms in 
 different to time> but we have not. 
 
 It happened to me to watch, in this condition, the 
 motions of several thousand solar systems all together. 
 It is fascinating to see all parts of all with equal dis- 
 
74 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 tinctness all the more when one has been bothered as 
 much as I have been, in my day, with eye-pieces and 
 object-glasses, with refraction, with prismatic colors and 
 achromatic contrivances. The luxury of having prac 
 tically no distance, of dispensing with these cumbrous 
 telescopes, and at the same time of having nothing too 
 small for observation, and dispensing with microscopes, 
 fussy if not cumbrous, can hardly be described in a 
 language as physical or material as is ours. 
 
 At the moment I describe, I had intentionally limited 
 my observation to some twenty or thirty thousand 
 solar systems, selecting those which had been nearest 
 to me when I was in my schooling on earth. Nothing 
 can be prettier than to see the movement, in perfectly 
 harmonic relations, of planets around their centres, 
 of satellites around planets, of suns, with their planets 
 and satellites, around their centres, and of these 
 in turn around theirs. And to persons who have 
 loved Earth as much as I do, and who, while at school 
 there, have studied other worlds and stars, then dis 
 tant, as carefully as I have, nothing, as I say, can be 
 more charming than to see at once all this play and in 
 terplay ; to see comets passing from system to system, 
 warming themselves now at one white sun, and then 
 at a party-colored double ; to see the people on them 
 changing customs and costumes as they change their 
 light, and to hear their quaint discussions as they jus 
 tify the new and ridicule the old. 
 
 It cost me a little effort to adjust myself to the old 
 points of view. But I had a Mentor so loving and so 
 patient, whose range oh ! it is infinitely before mine ; 
 and he knew how well I loved Earth, and if need had 
 been, he would have spent and been spent till he had 
 adjusted me to the dear old point of vision. No need 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 75 
 
 of large effort, though. There it was, just as he told 
 me. I was in the old plane of the old ecliptic. And 
 again I saw my dear old Orion, and the Dipper, and 
 the Pleiades, and Corona, and all the rest of them, just 
 as if I had never seen other figures made from just the 
 same stars when I had other points of view. 
 
 But what I am to tell you of is but one thing. 
 
 This guardian of mine and I not bothered by time 
 were watching the little systems as the dear little 
 worlds flew round so regularly and so prettily. Well, 
 it was as in old days I have taken a little water on the 
 end of a needle, and have placed it in the field of my 
 compound microscope. I suppose, as I said, that just 
 then there were several thousand solar systems in my 
 ken at once only the words " then," "there," and 
 " once" have but a modified meaning when one is in 
 these relations. I had only to choose the " epoch" 
 which I would see. And of one world and another I 
 had vision equally distinct nay, of the blush on a girl's 
 cheek in the planet Neptune, when she sat alone in 
 her bower, I had as distinct vision as of the rush of 
 a comet which cut through a dozen systems, and 
 loitered to flirt with a dozen suns. 
 
 In the experience which I describe, I had my choice 
 of epochs as of places. I think scholars or men of 
 scholarly tastes will not wonder when I say that in look 
 ing at our dear old Earth, after amusing myself for an 
 instant with the history of northern America for ten 
 or twenty thousand of its years, I turned to that queer 
 little land, that neck between Asia and Africa, and 
 that mysterious corner of Syria which is north of it. 
 Holy Land, men call it, and no wonder. And I 
 think, also, that nobody will be surprised that I chose 
 
76 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 to take that instant of time when a great caravan of 
 traders was crossing the isthmus they were already 
 well on the Egyptian side who had with them a hand 
 some young fellow whom they had bought just above, 
 a day or two before, and were carrying down south to 
 the slave-market at On, in Egypt. 
 
 This handsome youngster was Jussuf Ben Yacoub, 
 or, as we say, Joseph, son of Jacob. He was hand 
 some in the very noblest type of Hebrew beauty. He 
 seemed eighteen or nineteen years old ; I am not well 
 enough read to know if he were. The time was early 
 morning. I remember even the freshness of the morn 
 ing atmosphere, and that exquisite pearliness of the 
 sky. I saw every detail, and my heart was in my 
 mouth as I looked on. It had been a hot night, and 
 the sides of the tents were clewed up. The handsome 
 fellow lay, his wrists tied together by a cord of camel's 
 hair which bound him to the arm of a great Arab, who 
 looked as I remember Black Hawk of the Sacs and 
 Foxes. Joseph sat up, on the ground, with his hands 
 so close to the other that the cord did not move with 
 his motion. Then, with a queer trick, which I did 
 not follow, and a wrench which must have been agony 
 to him, he twisted and changed the form of the knot 
 in the rope. Then, by a dexterous grip between his 
 front teeth, he loosened the hold of the knot. He bit 
 again, again, and again. Hurrah ! It is loose, and 
 the boy is free from that snoring hulk by his side. An 
 instant more, and he is out from the tent ; he threads 
 his way daintily down the avenue between the tent 
 ropes ; he has come to the wady that stretches dry 
 along the west flank of the encampment : five hundred 
 yards more will take him to the other side of the 
 Cheril-el-bar (the wall of rock which runs down toward 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 77 
 
 the west from the mountains), and he will be free. At 
 this moment two nasty little dogs from the outlying 
 tent of the caravan what is known among the Arabs 
 as the tent of the warden of the route sprang after 
 him, snarling and yelling. 
 
 The brave boy turned, and, as if he had David's own 
 blood in his veins, and with the precision of David's 
 eye, he threw a heavy stone back on the headmost cur 
 so skilfully that it struck his spine, and silenced him 
 forever, as a bullet might have done. The other cur, 
 frightened, stood still and barked worse than ever. 
 
 I could not bear it. I had only to crush that yelp 
 ing cur, and the boy Joseph would be free, and in 
 eight-and-forty hours would be in his father's arms. 
 His brothers would be saved from remorse, and the 
 world 
 
 And the world ? 
 
 I stretched out my finger unseen over the dog, when 
 my Guardian, who watched all this as carefully as I 
 did, said : " No. They are all conscious and all free. 
 They are His children just as we are. You and I 
 must not interfere unless we know what we are doing. 
 Come here, and I can show you." 
 
 He turned me quite round into the region which 
 the astronomers call the starless region, and there 
 showed me another series oh ! an immense and 
 utterly unaccountable series of systems, which at the 
 moment seemed just like what we had been watch 
 ing. 
 
 "But they are not the same, " said my Guardian, 
 hastily. ' You will see they are not the same. In 
 deed, I do not know myself what these are for," he 
 said, " unless I think sometimes they are for you 
 
7 8 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 and me to learn from. He is so kind. And I never 
 asked. I do not know." 
 
 All this time he was looking round among the 
 systems for something, and at last he found it. He 
 pointed out, and I saw, a system just like our dear old 
 system, and a world just like our dear old world. The 
 same ear-shaped South America, the same leg-of- 
 mutton-shaped Africa, the same fiddle-shaped Mediter 
 ranean Sea, the same boot for Italy, and the same foot 
 ball for Sicily. They were all there. "Now," he 
 said, " here you may try experiments. This is quite 
 a fresh one ; no one has touched it. Only these here 
 are not His children these are only creatures, you 
 know. These are not conscious, though they seem so. 
 You will not hurt them, whatever you do : nay, they 
 are not free. Try your dead dog here, and see what 
 will happen." 
 
 Sure enough, there was the gray of the beautiful 
 morning ; there was the old hulk of an Arab snoring 
 in his tent ; there was the handsome boy in the dry 
 valley, or wady ; there was the dead dog all just as 
 it happened and there was the other dog snarling and 
 yelping. I just brushed him down, as I have often 
 wiped a green louse off a rose-bush ; all was silent 
 again, and the boy Joseph turned and ran. The old 
 hulk of an Arab never waked. The master of the car 
 avan did not so much as turn in his bed. The boy 
 passed the corner of the Cheril-el-bar carefully, just 
 looked behind to be sure he was not followed, and 
 then, with the speed of an antelope, ran, and ran, and 
 ran. He need not have run. It was two hours before 
 any one moved in the Midianite camp. Then there 
 was a little alarm. The dead dogs were found, and 
 there was a general ejaculation, which showed that the 
 
PAUL DECKER' S^STORY, ETC. 79 
 
 Midianites of those days were as great fatalists as the 
 Arabs of this. But nobody thought of stopping a 
 minute for one slave more or less. The lazy snorer 
 who had let him go was well lashed for his laziness. 
 And the caravan moved on. 
 
 And Joseph ? After an hour's running, he came to 
 water, and bathed. Now he dared open his bag and 
 eat a bit of black bread. He kept his eyes all round 
 him ; he ran no more, but walked, with that firm, 
 assured step of a frontiersman or skilful hunter. That 
 night he slept between two rocks under a terebinth 
 tree, where even a hawk would not have seen him. 
 The next day he treaded the paths along the hill-side, 
 as if he had the eyes of a lynx and the feet of a goat. 
 Toward night he approached a camp, evidently of a 
 sheik of distinction. None of the squalidness here of 
 those trading wanderers, the Midianite children of the 
 desert ! Everything here showed Eastern luxury, even, 
 and a certain permanency. But one could hear lamen 
 tation, and on drawing near one could see whence it 
 came. A long procession of women were beating their 
 arms, striking the most mournful chords, and singing 
 or, if you please, screaming in strains of the most 
 heart-rending agony. Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah 
 led the train three times around old Jacob's tent. 
 There, as before, the curtains were drawn aside, and 
 I could see the old man crouched upon the ground, 
 and the splendid cloak or shawl, where even great black 
 stains of blood did not hide the gorgeousness of the 
 party-colored knitting, hung before him on the tent- 
 pole, as if he could not bear to have it put away. 
 
 Joseph sprang lightly into the tent " My father, I 
 am here!" 
 
 Oh, what a scream of delight ! what ejaculations ! 
 
8o OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 what praise to God ! What questions and what answers ! 
 The weird procession of women heard the cry, and 
 Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah came rushing into the greet 
 ing. A moment more, and Judah from his tent, and 
 Reuben from his, headed the line of the false brethren. 
 Joseph turned and clasped Judah's hand. I heard 
 him whisper : " Not a word. The old man knows 
 nothing. Nor need he." 
 
 The old man sent out and killed a fatted calf. They 
 ate and drank, and were merry ; and for once I felt as 
 if I had not lived in vain. 
 
 And this feeling lasted yes, for some years of their 
 life. True, as I said, they were years which passed in 
 no time. I looked on, and enjoyed them with just that 
 luxury with which you linger over the charming last 
 page of a novel, where everything is spring, and sun 
 shine, and honey, and happiness. And there was the 
 comfortable feeling that this was my work. How 
 clever in me to have mashed that dog ! And he was 
 an ugly brute, too ! Nobody could have loved him. 
 Yes ; though all this passed in no time, still, I had one 
 good comfortable thrill of self-satisfaction ; but then 
 things began to darken, and one began to wonder. 
 
 Jacob was growing very old. I could see that, from 
 the way he kept in the tents while the others went 
 about their affairs. And then, summer after summer 
 I saw the wheat blight, and a sort of blast come over 
 the olives ; there seemed to be a kind of murrain 
 among the cattle, and no end of trouble among the 
 sheep and goats. I could see the anxious looks of the 
 twelve brothers, and their talk was gloomy enough, 
 too. Great herds of camels dying down to one or two 
 mangy good-for-nothing skeletons ; shepherds coming 
 
PA UL DECK/-: R ' S .V TOR F, ETC. 8 1 
 
 back from the lake country driving three or four 
 wretched sheep, and reporting that these were all that 
 were left from three or four thousand ! Things began 
 to grow doubtful, even in the home camp. The women 
 were crying, and the brothers at last held a great 
 council of the head shepherds, and camel-drivers, and 
 masters of horse, to know what should be done for 
 forage for the beasts, and even for food at home. 
 
 I had succeeded so well with the dog that I was 
 tempted to cry out, in my best Chaldee : " Egypt ! 
 why don't you go down to Egypt ? There is plenty 
 of corn there." But first I looked at Egypt, and 
 found things were worse there than they were around 
 Jacob's tents. The inundation had failed there for 
 year after year. They had tried some wretched irriga 
 tion, but it was like feeding the hordes of Egypt on 
 pepper-grass and radishes to rely on these little watered 
 gardens. " But the granaries," I said "where are 
 the granaries ?' ' Granaries ? There were no granaries. 
 That was but a dull set who were in the Egyptian gov 
 ernment then. They had had good crops year in and 
 year out, for a great many years, too. But they had 
 run for luck, as I have known other nations to do. 
 Why, I could see where they had fairly burned the corn 
 of one year to make room for the fresher harvest of the 
 next. There had been no Jussuf Ben Yacoub in the min 
 istry to direct the storing of the harvest in those years 
 of plenty. The man they had at the head was a 
 dreamy dilettante, who was engaged in restoring some 
 old carvings of some two hundred and fifty years be 
 fore. 
 
 And, in short, the fellaheen and the people of higher 
 caste in Egypt were all starving to death. That was, 
 as I began to think, a little uncomfortably, what I had 
 
82 QUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 brought about when I put my finger on that ugly, 
 howling yellow dog of the sleepy Midianite sentinel. 
 
 Well, it is a long story, and not a pleasant one ; 
 though, as I have said, as I and my companion watched 
 it, it all went by in no time I might even say in less 
 than no time. All the glory and comfort of the 
 encampments of Jacob's sons vanished. All became a 
 mere hand-to-hand fight with famine. Instead of a set 
 of cheerful, rich, prosperous chiefs of the pasture 
 country, with thousands of retainers, and no end of 
 camels, horses, cattle and sheep, here were a few gaunt, 
 half-starved wanderers, living on such game as they 
 could kill in a lucky hunt, or sometimes reduced to 
 locusts, or to the honey from the trees. What grieved 
 me more was to see the good fellows snapped up, one 
 after another, by the beastly garrisons of the Canaanite 
 cities. 
 
 Heaven knows where these devils came from, or 
 how they roughed it through the famine. But here 
 they were, in their fortresses, living, as I say, like 
 devils, with the origins of customs so beastly that I 
 will not stain this paper with them, and yet with a sort 
 of craft such as we still call by the name of devilish, so 
 that I do not wonder that they have been called Devil- 
 worshippers, in all the literature of which I know any 
 thing. Here they were, and here they got head. I 
 remember how disgusted I was when I saw them go 
 down in ships into the Nile country, and clean out, 
 root and branch, the Egyptians who were left after the 
 faminejust as I have seen a swarm of rose-bugs settle 
 on a rose garden and clean it out in an hour or two, 
 There was the end of Egypt. Then I watched, with an 
 interest not cheerful now, Dido's colony as she sailed 
 with an immense crew of these Moloch-worshipping 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 83 
 
 Canaanites, and their beastly rites and customs, and 
 planted Carthage. It was interesting to see poor ^Eneas 
 dodging about on the Mediterranean, while Dido 
 and her set were faring so well or well they thought 
 it on the African shore. 
 
 I will own I was rather anxious now. Not but what 
 there was something and a great gaudy city it was 
 on the slopes of Mount Moriah and Zion. But it made 
 me sick to see its worship, and I stopped my ears with 
 my fingers rather than hear the songs. O God ! the 
 yells of those poor little children as they burned them 
 to death in Hinnom, a hundred at a time, their own 
 mothers dancing and howling by the fires ! I cannot 
 speak of it to this day. I dared not look there long. 
 But it was no better anywhere else. I tried Greece ; 
 but I could make nothing of Greece. When I looked 
 for the arrival of Danaus with his Egyptian arts and 
 learning Toonh, I think they called him in Egypt 
 why, there was no Toonh and no Egyptian arts, be 
 cause these Canaanite brutes had cleared out Egypt. 
 The Pelasgians were in Greece, and in Greece they 
 stayed. They built great walls I did not see for what 
 but they lived in cabins at which a respectable 
 Apache would turn up his nose ; and century after 
 century they built the same huts, and lived in them. 
 " As for manners, they had none, and their customs 
 were very filthy." When it came time for Cadmus, 
 there was no chance for Cadmus. Perhaps he came, 
 perhaps he did not. All I know is that the Molochite 
 invasion of Egypt had swept all alphabet and letters 
 out of being, and that, if Cadmus came, he was rather 
 more low-lived than the Pelasgians among whom he 
 landed. Really all Greece was such a mess that I 
 hated to follow along its crass stupidity, and the sav- 
 
84 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 age raids which the inhabitants of one valley made 
 upon another. This was what I had done for them 
 when I mashed that little yellow dog so easily. 
 
 ALneas and his set seemed to prosper better at first. 
 I could see his ships, with the green leaves still growing 
 on the top-masts, hurry out from the port of Dido. I 
 saw poor Palinurus tumble over. Yes, indeed, queer 
 enough it was to have the old half-forgotten lines of 
 Dryden whom I know a great deal better than Virgil, 
 more shame to me come back as poor Nisus plead 
 for his friend, as poor Camilla bled to death, and as 
 Turnus did his best for nothing. Yes, I watched 
 Romulus and the rest of them, just as it was in Harry 
 and Lucy's little inch-square history. I took great 
 comfort' in Brutus ; I shut my eyes when the noble 
 lady Lucretia stabbed herself ; and the quick-moving 
 stereoscope for I really began to feel that it was 
 one became more and more fascinating, till we got to 
 the Second Punic War. 
 
 Then it seemed to me as if that cursed yellow dog 
 came to the front again. Not that I saw him, of 
 course. Not him ! His bones and skin had been 
 gnawed by jackals a thousand years before. But the 
 evil that dogs do lives after them ; and when I saw the 
 anxiety on Scipio's face they did not call him 
 Africanus when I looked in on little private confer 
 ences of manly Roman gentlemen, and heard them 
 count up their waning resources, and match them 
 against the overwhelming force of Carthage, I tell you 
 I felt badly. You see, Carthage was simply an out 
 post of all that Molochite crew of the East. In the 
 history I am used to, the Levant of that time was 
 divided between Egypt and Greece, and what there was 
 left of Alexander's empire. But in this yellow-dog sys- 
 
PAUL DECKERS STORY, ETC. 85 
 
 tern, for which I was responsible, it was all one brutal 
 race of Molochism, except that Pelasgian business I 
 told you of in Greece, which was no more to be counted 
 in the balance of power than the Digger Indians are 
 counted in the balance to-day. This was what made 
 poor Scipio and the rest of them so downhearted. And 
 well it might. I, who saw the whole, as you may say, 
 together, only, as I have explained, it did not mix it 
 self up I could see Hannibal with his following of all 
 the Mediterranean powers except Italy, come down on 
 the Romans and crush them as easily as I crushed the 
 cur. No, not as easily as that, for they fought like 
 fury. Men fought and women fought, boys and girls 
 fought. They dashed into the harbor of Carthage 
 once with fire-ships, and burned the fleet. They sent 
 a squadron even into the port of Sidon, and burned half 
 the city. But it was no good : army after army was 
 beaten ; fleet after fleet was sunk by the great Car 
 thaginian triremes. Ah me ! I remember one had the 
 cordage of the admiral's ship made from the hair of the 
 Roman matrons. But it was all one. If it had been 
 Manilla hemp or wire rope, the ship would not have 
 stood when that brutal Sidonian admiral rammed at her 
 with his hundred oarsmen. That battle was the end of 
 Rome. The brutes burned it first. They tumbled 
 down the very walls of the temples. What they could 
 plough, they ploughed. The boys and girls who were 
 not big enough to fight they dragged into slavery, and 
 that was the end. All the rest were dead on the field 
 of battle, or were sunk in the sea. 
 
 And so Molochism reigned century after century. 
 Just that, one century after another century : two 
 centuries in all. What a reign it was ! Lust, brutal 
 ity, terror, cruelty, carnage, famine, agony, horror. If 
 
86 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 I do not say death, it is because death was a blessing 
 in contrast to such lives. For now that there was no 
 body to fight who had an idea above the earth and 
 dead things, these swords that were so sharp had to turn 
 against each other. No Israel to crush, no Egypt, no 
 Iran, no Greece, no Rome, Moloch and Canaan turned 
 on themselves, and fought Canaan and Moloch. Do 
 not ask me to tell the story ! Where beast meets beast, 
 there is no story to tell worth your hearing or my tell 
 ing. Brute rage gives you nothing to describe. They 
 poisoned, they starved, they burned ; they scourged 
 and flayed and crucified ; they invented forms of horror 
 for which our imagination, thank God, has no picture, 
 and our languages no name. And all this time lust, and 
 every form of pestilence and disease which depends on 
 lust, raged as fire rages when it has broken bounds. It 
 was seldom and more seldom that children were born ; 
 nay, when they were born, they seemed only half 
 alive. And those who grew to manhood and woman 
 hood only it is desecration to use those names 
 transmitted such untamed beastliness to those who 
 came after ! 
 
 One hundred years, as I said. Fewer and fewer of 
 these wretches were left in the world. I could see 
 fields grow up to jungles and to forests. A fire wasted 
 Carthage, and another swept away On, and another 
 finished Sidon, and there was neither heart nor art to 
 rebuild them. Then another hundred years dragged 
 by, with worse horrors, if it were possible, and more. 
 The stream of the world's life began to run in drops, 
 now big drops, with a noisy gurgle ; black drops, too, 
 or bloody red. Fewer men, and still fewer women, and 
 all mad with beastly rage. Every man's hand was 
 against his brother, as if this were a world of Cains. 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 87 
 
 All this had come to them -because they did not like to 
 retain God in their knowledge. 
 
 No, I will not describe it. You do not ask me to. 
 And if you asked, I would say " No." Let me come 
 to the end. 
 
 The two centuries had gone. There are but a hand- 
 ful of these furies left. Then the last generation came 
 and for thirty years more of murder and fight it 
 ground along. At the last, how strange it seemed to 
 me, all that there are left, in two unequal parties, each 
 of which had its banner still for fight, and a sort of uni 
 form as if they were armies ; but only four on one side 
 and nine on the other met, as if the world were not 
 wide enough for both, and met in that very Syria 
 where I had helped Joseph, son of Jacob, to fling his 
 arms round his father's neck again. 
 
 Nor, indeed, was it very far from that spot. It was 
 close to the wreck and ruin of the Jebusite city which 
 had been one of the strongholds last destroyed of one 
 of these clans. That city was burned, but I saw that 
 the ruins were smoking. Just outside there was an 
 open space. I wonder if it had a weird, deadly look, 
 or whether the horror of the day made me think so ? 
 I remember a great rock like a man's skull that peered 
 out from the gray, dry ground. Around that rock 
 these wretches fought, four to nine, hiding behind it, 
 on one side or the other, on that April day, under that 
 black sky. 
 
 One is down ! Two of the other party are kneeling 
 on him, to take the last breath of life from him. With 
 a yell of rage three or four of his party, dashing their 
 shields on the heads of the two, spring upon them ; 
 and I can see one wave his battle-axe above his head, 
 when 
 
88 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Did the metal attract the spark ? A crash ! a blaze 
 which dazzled my eyes, and when I opened them the 
 last of these human brutes all lay stark dead on the one 
 side and on the other of the grim rock of Calvary ! 
 
 Not a man or a woman, not a boy or a girl, left in 
 that world ! 
 
 " Do not be disturbed," said my Mentor. "You 
 have done nothing." 
 
 " Nothing !" I groaned. " I have ruined a world in 
 my rashness." 
 
 " Nothing," he repeated. " Remember what I told 
 you : these are what shall I say ? shadows, shadowy 
 forms. They are not His children. They are only 
 forms which act as if they were that you and I may 
 see and learn, perhaps begin to understand only it 
 passes knowledge." 
 
 As he spoke, I remembered that I moaned and 
 struggled with him like a crying child. I was all over 
 whelmed by the sight of the mischief I had done. I 
 would not be comforted. 
 
 " Listen to me," he said again. " You have only 
 done, or wanted to do, what we all try for at first. 
 You wanted to save your poor Joseph. What 
 wonder ?" 
 
 "Of course I did," sobbed I. "Could I have 
 thought ? Should you have thought ?" 
 
 " No," said he, with that royal smile of his " no, I 
 should not have thought once I could not have 
 thought it once till I too tried my experiments." 
 And he paused. 
 
 Perhaps he was thinking what his experiments also 
 were. 
 
 Then he began again, and the royal smile had hardly 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 89 
 
 ' 
 faded away : "Let me show you. Or let me try. You 
 
 wanted to save your poor Joseph all sole alone." 
 
 11 Yes," I said. " Why should I not want to ?" 
 
 Because he was not alone ; could not be alone. 
 None of them were alone ; none of them could be 
 alone. Why, you know yourself that not a rain- drop 
 in that shower yonder but balances against a dust-grain 
 on the other side of creation. How could Joseph live 
 or die alone ? How could that brute he was chained 
 to live or die alone ? None of them are alone. None 
 of us are alone. He is not alone. Even He is in us, 
 and we are in Him. But the way with men and it is 
 not so long, dear friend, since you were a man the 
 way with men is to try what you tried. I never yet 
 knew a man and how many have I known, thank 
 God ! I never yet knew a man but he wanted to 
 single out some one Joseph to help as if the rest 
 were nothing, or as if our Father had no plans." 
 
 " I shall never try that again !" sobbed I, after a 
 long pause. 
 
 " 4 Never,' " said he, " is a long word. You will 
 learn not to say ' Never.' But I'll tell you what you 
 will do. When you get a glimpse of the life in com 
 mon, when you find out what is the drift shall I say of 
 the game, or shall I say of the law ? in which they all 
 and we all, He in us and we in Him, are living, then, 
 oh, it is such fun to strike in and live for all !" 
 
 He paused a minute, and then he went on, hesitating 
 at first, as if he feared to pain me, but resolutely after 
 ward, as if this must be said : 
 
 " Another thing I notice in most men, though not 
 in all, is this : they do not seem at first to understand 
 that the Idea is the whole. Abraham had left Ur rather 
 than have any part with those smoke-and-dust men 
 
90 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Nature-worshippers, I think they call them. How was 
 it that you did not see that Joseph was going down to 
 Egypt with the Idea? He could take what they did 
 not have there. And as you saw, in the other place, 
 without it, why, your world died." 
 
 Then he turned round and left that horrid world of 
 phantoms, to go back to our own dear real world. 
 And this time I looked on TO-DAY. How bright it 
 seemed, and how comforting to me to think that I had 
 never touched the yellow dog, and that he came to his 
 death in his own way ! 
 
 I saw some things I liked, and some I disliked. It 
 happened that I was looking at Zululand, when poor 
 Prince Lulu's foot slipped at the saddle-flap. I saw 
 the assegai that stabbed him. Had I been a trooper 
 at his side, by his side I would have died too. But 
 no, I was not at his side. And I remembered Joseph, 
 and I said, " From what I call evil, He educes good." 
 
 But as Paul Decker and Theodora Bourn rode that 
 evening there was no time nor light for reading anything 
 as long as this. In their talk, they forgot time, forgot 
 themselves, indeed, as has been said, and forgot the 
 others. But at last Caesar came to light up their palace 
 for them, and people looked at watches, and moved 
 back and forth, and soon it proved that again they 
 were making a long stop. The conductor was in the 
 telegraph office, and was trying to call. 
 
 'Well," said the gay Mrs. Frechette, "we are 
 independent of them. One of these gentlemen must 
 tell us a story, as Mr. Decker did before dinner. Mr. 
 Menet, it is your turn now." 
 
 " I will tell the party the story of General Crook and 
 the dolls, which I told you just now. I will tell it first 
 
PAUL DECKER'S- STORY, ETC. 91 
 
 as little Lulu told it, and then I will tell how Mr. 
 Grattan told it, and perhaps Paul will tell how the 
 red-skins tell it." 
 
 And between them they told the story of 
 LULU'S DOLL DID IT. 
 
 WHAT LULU TOLD. 
 
 " My doll did it," said Lulu to the others. 
 
 As it happened, Meg and I came into the play-room 
 at that moment, and I stopped to ask what her doll 
 did. 
 
 " My doll saved three hundred people's lives, and I 
 believe Lieutenant Grattan said perhaps she saved the 
 country from war. She was not this doll. This is 
 Gertrude. She was Patty that's Gertrude's grand 
 mother. When her head was broke we were at Fort 
 Darling then she had honorable burial. Wendell and 
 Tom fired a salute over her grave. Sometimes I think 
 Gertrude looks like her," said Lulu, holding Gertrude 
 in the right point of view. " She certainly has her 
 grandmother's eyes." 
 
 All the others laughed at this, it was so exactly in 
 the way in which visitors to their mothers talked about 
 them. 
 
 " But what did she do, Lulu ?" persisted Meg. 
 
 " I tell you she saved the lives of a whole camp of 
 Indians. You see, the whole command was in camp at 
 a place they called the Sweet-water Gulch a real nice 
 place it was, too. And the general was very anxious, 
 papa said, and I know mamma was anxious too. Well, 
 one day an orderly came running over to our tents, by 
 the brook, you know, to ask if Miss Lulu had a doll. 
 I was out fishing with Wendell, or I should have sent 
 
92 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Abigail. But mamma did not know, and she seized 
 Patty, and sent her. 
 
 " She did not come back for three days, and then 
 she came with a beautiful bunch of grapes, and some 
 birds, from the general to me, and with his compli 
 ments to Miss Lulu and the doll had been a peace 
 maker, and had saved all these people's lives. 
 
 ' Yes ; only wait, and I will tell you all about it. 
 ' We were ordered that is, not mamma and Wen 
 dell and Patty and I, but the command was ordered 
 to suppress an Apache rising. The Apaches were 
 horrid, you know. They had never made peace since 
 anybody could remember. Well, the general he is a 
 real good general, anyway, if he did break Patty's leg 
 he hates to kill the Indians. So he took us to Sweet- 
 water Gulch, and he just waited and waited till his time 
 came. The'n he heard of these thirty lodges that's 
 three hundred people all by themselves. But he 
 never touched them. Then he heard of three lodges 
 just a little way off, and he pounced on them, and did 
 not kill one man. He brought them all in prisoners. 
 
 " They were horrid. I saw them the next day. 
 They sat on the ground with their blankets round 
 their heads. You see, they thought we should roast 
 them and kill them. They would not speak to one of 
 the interpreters. No ; two whole days they would not 
 say one word. 
 
 " Then the general himself and his aide, Mr. Grattan 
 he's real nice went to the prison-camp themselves. 
 And the general took one Indian girl in his arms, and 
 Mr. Grattan took another, and they carried them to the 
 head-quarters tent. How they did kick and scream ! 
 Wendell and I were going fishing, and as we rode out 
 of camp we could hear those children screaming, 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 93 
 
 as far, Meg, as your father's house. The general 
 offered them sugar and they had candy brought for 
 them but they just screamed and screamed for hours. 
 They screamed till they were so tired that first one and 
 then the other fell asleep. The general's wife had one, 
 and I believe Mrs. Myers had the other. But they 
 could not do anything with them. They would just 
 kick and scream. Then, when they were asleep, the 
 general sent for a doll, and mamma sent him my 
 Patty. 
 
 " By and by the Indian child waked up and the 
 general had her on his sofa, with his Arab rug on her 
 and he sat where she could not see him ; but he 
 placed Patty where she could see her. 
 
 " And I suppose she forgot where she was, and she 
 began playing with Patty. And then she called the 
 other girl, and there was a white cotton stuffed rabbit 
 for her. And the two little things began playing in 
 the tent on the ground, and then the general gave 
 them candy and sugar again. And this time they took 
 it. And before long Mr. Grattan and the general and 
 the two children were all four playing together, and 
 were all great friends. 
 
 "By and by, down at the Indians' place I mean 
 where the prisoners were they told the children's 
 mother to come up to the head-quarters tent. And she 
 came, and lo and behold ! her two little girls were 
 playing with the general and Mr. Grattan. Mr. Grattan 
 was cutting out paper horses for them. 
 
 ' Well, that began it all. The general came to be 
 very friendly with these thirty prisoners. Then he 
 trusted them to go to the others with a message. And 
 they went, and they made it all up I mean they made 
 up the quarrel and so there was not any war. And 
 
94 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 we were ordered off to Fort Darling. And there Patty 
 had her bad fall, and broke her head. And she had a 
 military funeral, as I told you. She had it because the 
 general was so fond of her. And I always say Patty 
 did it, and I say so now." 
 
 WHAT THE LIEUTENANT TOLD. 
 
 I was interested in what Lulu told, in her energetic 
 way, and when I was in New York the next week, I 
 asked at General Hancock's head-quarters when Lieu 
 tenant Grattan would come East. To my surprise and 
 pleasure, I found he was at the Hoffman House. He 
 had arrived that day, summoned to an inquiry about 
 some blankets. 
 
 I called at once to see him. After we had talked 
 about some old friends of his and mine, I asked him if 
 he remembered Lulu and her doll Patty. He smiled 
 with pleasure, and said that he remembered Patty very 
 well. 
 
 " If you know the general," said Mr. Grattan, very 
 earnestly, "you know he hates to take a drop of 
 Indian blood if he can help it ; and though he has done 
 such wonders in keeping the peace out there and 
 I suppose there is not such another campaigner in the 
 world he is taking care of the poor creatures all the 
 time. 
 
 " He had had a wonderful success in Oregon. Well, 
 I will tell you of that some other day. All of a sudden, 
 by telegraph, we were all ordered down into the Gila 
 country you know where the strip we bought from 
 Mexico ordered to suppress the Apaches. Everybody 
 said this time we should have to massacre them all. 
 I know I thought so. For the Apaches had always 
 been at war. They did not know what a treaty 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 95 
 
 was ; they never had made one, that was certain. It 
 was certain, therefore, that they never broke one. 
 
 " The general never tarries, and we were soon in 
 the valley of the Colorado. Before long, sure enough, 
 we had stories of the red rascals everywhere. But 
 either they did not know we were there, or they did 
 not care. We were not there a week before a gang of 
 them separated from the rest, and encamped within 
 forty miles of us. The general knew to a man who 
 they were and where. And every man in the com 
 mand wanted him to pounce on them. Instead of 
 which, he bade me, and old Andrew, a famous scout, 
 and some fifteen dragoons, to go and hang round, with 
 out exposing ourselves, and bring him three or four 
 prisoners women and children if we could. 
 
 "Oh dear, how old Andrew hated it all! ' Ef 
 there's anything I hate,' said he, ' it's nigger-ketching ; 
 'n I'd as lief ketch a nigger as a red man. I hate it 
 all. But ef the general said so, et mus* be done.' 
 
 " And done it was. We snapped up three or four 
 families the second night, clapped them all on fast 
 horses, and were at head-quarters before noon. And 
 never an Apache in the big party knew it. They were 
 all so secure that these people were left half a mile be 
 low them in the canon. 
 
 4 Then it was that the general and I tried baby- 
 tending, much as little Lulu told you. Heavens ! how 
 that child kicked and screamed ! And the general's 
 screamed worse. But he had his wife, and I, alas ! 
 had none. But I did have a sergeant's wife, a real 
 motherly woman, and she did her best. But both 
 brats cried themselves to sleep. It was then that the 
 general sent for the doll. And Miss Lulu sent her 
 Patty, if that was the name. And certainly Patty 
 
96 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 won all the blessings of the peacemakers. I shall 
 always say ' the doll did it. ' ' 
 
 HOW VERMILION TOLD IT. 
 
 What Vermilion told me belongs in the story, but it 
 was more than a year after when I first saw Vermilion. 
 
 Vermilion's real name was Chie. In the Apache 
 language Chie means " vermilion." 
 
 I had gone to Arizona to look after some mining 
 property or rather some Spanish land grants which 
 had been left to my nieces, the two Hermance girls, 
 by the death of Mr. Stephen Cochran. Colonel 
 McDavitt, who knows all about mines, had agreed to 
 go with me, and so we had come to Prescott together. 
 I had informed myself as well as I could about the 
 titles to the girls' lands, and as to the geography, where 
 they were, or at least where they ought to be ; and we 
 were about to start, with one or two young men who 
 had joined us for the adventure, when, of a sudden, 
 Colonel McDavitt was recalled to Bangor. There 
 came a telegram to say that his oldest boy had a 
 violent attack of diphtheria, and it was thought he 
 would not live. 
 
 This changed all my plans. The colonel and his 
 nephew went to the East. A young chemist or 
 assayer whom I had relied on did not care to go so far 
 among savages alone, and I found that I was to be the 
 tvhole of the party poor I, who had no experience in 
 wildernesses or in campaigning. 
 
 So I went to Governor Fremont, and I told him my 
 story. 
 
 It proved that things were not so bad as I feared. 
 The governor gave me an introduction to the United 
 States officer who commanded our force in Arizona, 
 
PAUL DECKERS STORY, ETC. 97 
 
 and said he would know who was going toward the 
 Chiquito country, if anybody was, and whether there 
 were any chance of escort. 
 
 And so it proved that Colonel McDavitt's recall 
 helped me to a very pleasant experience. It was that 
 which introduced me to Vermilion. 
 
 For the colonel said at once, when I told my sad 
 tale, that it was all right, that he had only the day be 
 fore given Vermilion a furlough that he might spend two 
 or three weeks with his friends, and he sent an orderly 
 for Vermilion, to see if he could not go my way. 
 
 In a very few minutes Vermilion appeared himself. 
 From the first I was pleased with him, nor had I 
 ever to change my opinion. He was fully six fe.et 
 high, well-proportioned, with large dark eyes, hair 
 straight and perfectly black, and long, so as to cover 
 the collar of his jacket. 
 
 To my surprise, there was no paint upon Vermilion. 
 He wore the blue flannel fatigue jacket of the American 
 army, with stripes of gilt braid, not usual on a fatigue 
 jacket, which showed he was a sergeant. 
 
 I found that he was a regularly enlisted man in a 
 corps of guides or scouts. He had really had rank as 
 a sergeant in one or two expeditions, and so the 
 officers humored him by letting him wear the symbols 
 of the rank. 
 
 " Yes," he said, in wretched English, "Vermilion 
 go two, three, four days to the east, into the hills." 
 
 And, not to tell you of the difficulties in our agree 
 ment, it was settled that we should ride together, first 
 to his own tribe, or sub-tribe, which he was going to 
 visit, and then he would be my guide to the region for 
 which I had the Spanish titles. Nothing could seem 
 fairer than the bargain. 
 
98 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 But the next morning, when I met him by agree 
 ment at the camp, half an hour before sunrise, I found 
 he would not start, although everything seemed ready. 
 " Store shut," he said "store shut; all store shut 
 last night. Store open store open all store open by 
 and by." 
 
 " I remonstrated vainly ; offered sugar, tobacco, and 
 even whiskey from the government stores, which I 
 thought would honor my demands. Nothing would 
 do but we must wait and wait till nearly eight o'clock, 
 and then ride back into Prescott, from which I had 
 just come, for him to go to a particular store in Mc 
 Dowell Street. 
 
 I was at Vermilion's mercy ; so I had to go. And 
 then I had to sit on my horse in McDowell Street, 
 holding Vermilion's horse, for a long half-hour, while 
 he made his purchases. It was nine o'clock before we 
 started, when we might have left Prescott out of sight 
 before six. Nor could I make him tell why we stop 
 ped there, till we came to his home. 
 
 This was on the evening of our fourth day, and very 
 hard riding it was, too. We came to a range of hills 
 which seemed to me very cheerless, when Vermilion 
 dismounted, and made what he told me was a " peace 
 smoke." Then he bade me wait and watch the smoke 
 while he rode forward alone. In a little while he came 
 back with another Indian, who had a child on the 
 saddle behind him. The man was Vermilion's 
 brother ; his name, I suppose, was Yellow Ochre, and 
 for aught I know the boy was Ultramarine. I was 
 introduced with great form, and we then rode seven 
 miles more through very deep cafions, till we came to 
 the most perfectly defended place for a village. There 
 were clefts in the rock to enter by, and others to re- 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, ETC. 99 
 
 treat by, but a space within -yes, as big as Boston 
 Common of green grass, with a pretty stream running 
 through it, and high stone walls all around, one or two 
 hundred feet high. 
 
 We were received with all the honors. There was 
 shouting, and singing, and every sign of joy. I was 
 presented to big chiefs and little chiefs, and in Spanish 
 and in English and in Apache we made protestations 
 of eternal love to each other. Not till these cere 
 monies were over would Vermilion take me to one 
 side, where, as it proved, his own wife and his own 
 children waited for him. It was a simple home 
 enough. One side was made of sandstone rock 
 twenty feet high, and the other side by a large scrub 
 oak, the branches of which touched the rock. One or 
 two large boughs had been cut from other oaks to 
 thicken the shade. The ground had been scooped 
 out to make a place for some grass which was thrown 
 in for a bed. 
 
 Vermilion's wife was glad to see him, I am sure. 
 She told me so afterward. But she made no signs of 
 joy. She did bring forward with genuine motherly 
 pride their daughter, a little girl of six years old. 
 The child was exquisitely dressed in deer-skin 
 perfectly white, with very bright embroidery, and with 
 a certain elegance of savage finery which surprised me. 
 
 Vermilion lifted the child off the ground, and made 
 no pretence of concealing his pleasure that she was so 
 tall and well. Then he went back to his horse, 
 unrolled the pack behind the saddle, and produced that 
 mysterious parcel which had so excited my wonder ever 
 since we left McDowell Street on Tuesday morning. 
 The child's mother was eager by this time, took the 
 knife he offered, and cut the cords of the parcel. An 
 
100 OUR CHRIST AT AS IN A PALACE. 
 
 india-rubber cover came off first, then, to their amuse 
 ment and amazement, sheets and sheets of wrapping 
 paper, and at last, in all the glory of silk and satin and 
 ribbon and spangle, a doll with wax head and staring 
 blue eyes ! 
 
 The little girl screamed with delight, and her screams 
 were taken up by all the family. 
 
 Indeed, it was not three minutes before the house 
 and we were the centre of a crowd of Indians, clamor 
 ing with curiosity, and eager to see the wonder of 
 which the fame was spreading all through the encamp 
 ment. 
 
 That doll, as Lulu afterward made me certain, must 
 have been the twin of Patty. While I was sitting 
 groaning in the saddle, holding the 'two uneasy horses 
 in McDowell Street, Vermilion had been looking 
 through the whole stock of the Prescott dealer, till he 
 could match Patty's accomplishments in every partic 
 ular. 
 
 On the morning after our arrival the excitement the 
 doll had created had subsided a little, and I made Ver 
 milion tell me the whole story. I had found before 
 this that he spoke Spanish sufficiently well, and with 
 little difficulty I could make out the whole. 
 
 He said that before the general came down to Sweet- 
 water Gulch, the camp of which Lulu had told me, all 
 his own sub-tribe of Apaches " had been to the bad 
 place." 
 
 By this phrase he meant that they had been on a 
 raid had been plundering stock, sheep, and horses. 
 
 ' The general is a great fighter. He knows the 
 white man's fighting. He knows the Indian's fighting. 
 Cochise does not know better. 
 
PAUL DECKER'S STORY, kTC. IOI 
 
 ' The general took Vermilion asleep and Ponce, 
 and Yellow Tail and her and her and her twenty- 
 seven in all. Not one scalp ; not one gun fired. 
 Asleep. Took them all. 
 
 ' Vermilion and Ponce and Yellow Tail sang their 
 death-songs and waited to die. Vermilion had scalped 
 seven white men, fourteen white women and girls. It 
 was now Vermilion's turn. Why should he not die ? 
 
 " The general did not say die. The general caught 
 the ' Blue Swan' there, and Grattan caught the ' Little 
 Star ' there, and they carried them away. Vermilion 
 said the white men will scalp the children first, and 
 then they will come for Vermilion." 
 
 He stopped for five minutes not looking at me, 
 but looking at the ground. Then he looked up with 
 a sunny smile, such as I had seen on his face only once 
 before. 
 
 " When the general sent to scalp Vermilion, 
 Vermilion found the Blue Swan playing with such 
 another as you saw last night." 
 
 The Blue Swan was playing with Patty, Lulu's doll. 
 
 And Vermilion was fairly garrulous when he told the 
 rest : how the general sent him and Ponce and Yellow 
 Tail on their parole to the rest of the band ; how, one 
 by one, they persuaded the others to come in ; how all 
 that band, after much suspicion, agreed on some sort 
 of treaty with the general ; how, one by one, the 
 general engaged all of them who were good for any 
 thing as scouts or guides. It was clear enough that 
 they liked better to have Uncle Sam's uniform on their 
 backs, and to be fed with his rations, than to starve 
 on occasional " finds" of acorns, seeds, or even the 
 chance of rabbits or quail. His wife had come up by 
 this. time, and the little girl, with Patty's twin sister 
 
102 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 in her arms. The woman said, with very pathetic 
 earnestness, " Shi tekeh shieslinjune. " 
 
 I knew nothing of the words, but Vermilion said they 
 meant, " I the flag of peace love" ; and this seemed 
 to me so pretty that I shook hands with her, smiled, 
 kissed the child, and then, to their wonder, made her 
 say again, " Shi tekeh shieslinjune," and wrote down 
 the words. 
 
 The little girl then shyly held up the doll to me, and 
 I kissed it ; and Vermilion said, with the greatest 
 seriousness, " It was the little wax woman who did 
 it all" 
 

 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHRISTM A S EVE. 
 
 WITH the long-drawn evening supper in the dining- 
 car there came on the ladies of the party the certainty 
 that their Christmas day was not to be spent in church 
 or in family frolic. The Corneaus' vehicle would wait 
 long at the station at Hastings. But little hope now that 
 the bride and bridegroom, or any chance companions 
 of theirs, would eat at their dinner. No ! the Corneaus 
 must pick up their guests from the high-ways and by 
 ways, for those that were bidden would certainly not 
 be at the table. 
 
 This time the train was standing still, not at any 
 junction or station, but on the bleak side of the Platte 
 River, with not a house in sight, nor, indeed, with any 
 thing in sight, so dense was the blinding snow. The 
 reason of the failure of the telegraph was now 
 explained. In a tempest of the day before, a long 
 snow-shed had been whirled over posts and telegraph 
 had gone to the ground with it, and the wreck had lain 
 across the track in wild confusion. A strong working 
 party had cleared away the rubbish in a fashion. But 
 with the early afternoon a new, heavy, hard-packing 
 storm of snow had set in upon the unprotected road, 
 and the heaps of ruin only made points of vantage 
 from which and upon which drifts could gather. 
 
 In short, the train was standing still this time, 
 because it had to stand still, and the engine-driver and 
 conductor were accepting the inevitable. 
 
104 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 'What I say is this/' said the irrepressible Mrs. 
 Frechette, "if we are to spend Christmas here, it 
 shall be a merry Christmas. I am not going to mope 
 and mourn because for once I spend my Christmas in a 
 palace. I have always suspected that such was my des 
 tiny. Dear Mrs. Van Sandfoord, I was dreadfully dis 
 appointed when they did not choose my husband King 
 of Bulgaria. That seemed the last chance, you know. 
 What I propose is this : Mr. Van Sandfoord, Mrs. 
 Hackmatack, and and you, Mr. Frechette, shall be a 
 committee, to retire now, as soon as we have done our 
 supper. No ; we will retire, and you shall stay here, 
 and you shall agree on the programme of the Christmas 
 festivities. Every one shall be invited the brakemen 
 and the porters and firemen, and cooks, and all, all 
 the people forward, and the conductor. There is room 
 enough, and we will have a real jolly time, as we spend 
 
 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE." 
 
 " All right," said Hector, eager to keep up the ball. 
 " But what are we to report, dear Mrs. Fr6chette ? 
 It would help us if you told us that. 
 
 ' The committee will please withdraw to the kitchen 
 end of the car." 
 
 " Report ! Mr. Van Sandfoord, you are certainly 
 not a goose. There is only embarrassment of riches. 
 We shall sing songs and hymns. We shall tell 
 stories and act charades. You may preach a sermon, 
 if you like, and I will not go to sleep. I dare say 
 Caesar will clear up the palace, so that you can dance 
 a clog dance, and Mr. Menet and I can waltz together. 
 I am not going to make your report for you. Mr. 
 Menet, please help me across. Come here, girls, 
 and let them have the car for their consultations." 
 
CHRIS TMA .9 E VE. 1 05 
 
 " For one," said George Hackmatack, " I offer my 
 contribution in advance. I have in my portfolio, if 
 Julia has not cleared it up, a Christmas story, by Mr. 
 Collingwood." 
 
 " A Christmas story what luck ! when our stories 
 have all been about Thanksgiving. But who is Mr. 
 Collingwood ?" 
 
 " Mr. Collingwood oh, he is a student in that capi 
 tal college at Lansing. There boys go out in the woods 
 winters, and make themselves of use to God and man 
 in cutting lumber. So he knows a camp by living 
 practice, as well as Bret Harte knows it by insight 
 and a poet's observation. If you do not say this story 
 of his is as tender as one of Bret Harte's stories, I 
 shall cry. Why, I read it to one of our first critics, 
 and all he could say was that it was studied after 
 the story, ' How Santa Claus Came to Sandy Bar.' 
 But I said that that was a great compliment to Bret 
 Harte, for Mr. Collingwood studied this story in the 
 very woods of which he tells." 
 
 All this George Hackmatack told them as the 
 palace party gathered under Caesar's lamps, leaving 
 their committee behind them. 
 
 The committee came in while he was talking. It 
 proved that they had adjusted their report to meet 
 what he had said. Hector then stepped forward, to 
 the very front of the passage-way, and read, in an ora 
 torical tone, from a large sheet of paper, 
 
 THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT AND WHAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 1. EVERY prince and princess that is all dwellers in 
 the palace shall hang up a stocking to-night outside 
 the curtain, lest Santa Claus be disappointed. 
 
 2. Breakfast will be served at eight-thirty. All 
 princes and princesses not present will be killed. 
 Quail on toast, broiled chicken, fried oysters, antelope 
 steak, and buffalo's hump. 
 
 3. Gathering in the palace at ten. The whole train 
 invited and the inviting party. Milton's hymn, 
 Sears'shymn, and such other music as the choir selects 
 to be sung by the company. Singing led by Mr. 
 Menet, Mrs. Van Sandfoord, and Professor Wisner. 
 
 [Professor Wisner was one of the passengers for 
 ward.] 
 
 4. At eleven, the party meets again strict punc 
 tuality for literary exercises. 
 
 I. Mr. Hackmatack reads Mr. Collingwood's story. 
 
 II. Mrs. Frechette sings an original ballad. 
 
 III. Mr. Menet delivers an oration. 
 
 IV. Mrs. Frechette makes a confession. 
 
 V. Mrs. Van Sandfoord relates the history of her 
 
 life. 
 
 VI. Mr. Frechette reads an essay. 
 VII. Mrs. Hackmatack tells how her children had the 
 mumps. 
 
THE COMMITTEE' S REPORT. 167 
 
 VIII. Prayer in " Moses in Egypt, ' ' sung by the com 
 pany, led by Mrs. Fr6chette. 
 IX. The Apache's Revenge, a tableau, by Mr. 
 
 Decker and Professor Wisner. 
 X. A historical essay on the uses of Christmas, 
 
 by Mr. Hector Van Sandfoord. 
 XL Intermission for dinner. 
 
 BILL OF FARE. 
 
 Buffalo hump. 
 Antelope steaks. 
 Wild turkey. 
 Tame turkey. 
 Fried oysters. 
 Broiled chicken. 
 Hog. 
 Hominy. 
 Canned peaches. 
 Plum pudding with burning 
 brandy. 
 
 XII. One hour for naps and digestion. 
 
 XIII. Love story by Mr. Fr6chette. 
 
 XIV. Duet from "Figaro," by Mrs. Frechette. 
 XV. Bravura by Miss Bourn. 
 
 XVI. Blood-and-thunder story, by Mr. Hackma 
 tack. 
 
 XVII. Cantata from " Fidelio," by Mrs. Frechette. 
 XVIII. The Declaration of Independence, repeated 
 
 from memory, by Mrs. Van Sandfoord. 
 XIX. A treatise on the moral law, by Mrs. Fr6- 
 
 chette. 
 
 XX. The history of Troy, by Mrs. Fr6chette. 
 XXI. Readings from " Romeo and Juliet," by Mrs. 
 Fr6chette. 
 
Io8 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 XXII. The compact in the cabin of the Mayflower, 
 by Mrs. Frechette. 
 
 XXIII. The constitution of California, by Mrs. Fre 
 
 chette. 
 
 XXIV. The Children in the Wood, by Mrs. Fr6- 
 
 chette. 
 
 M Stop, stop, stop !" cried that lively lady. " You 
 will keep us here till May-day before you have done. 
 But I will do my part, all of you do yours, and we 
 will have a merry Christmas. 
 
 " Dear William," she said to her husband in a 
 stage whisper, "do go forward with my key to the 
 baggage-car, open my small trunk, and bring me the 
 largest pair of stockings you can find." 
 
 And so they fell to singing songs, and Christmas 
 eve, after all, passed gayly. 
 
 Before they bade good-night, Paul Decker whispered 
 to Mrs. Van Sandfoord : 
 
 " I am going to make you a present. Is there any 
 harm in my giving a little picture to Miss Bourn ?" 
 
 " Harm ! not a bit of it ; it is all a frolic, of course. 
 I am glad I am to have one. Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CHRISTMAS MORNING. 
 
 AND so the next morning there was great laughing 
 and rattle as the stockings were opened. 
 
 Mrs. Frechette took command. She was as fresh 
 and pretty in her jaunty morning dress as if she had a 
 party at breakfast in the Athente. She was dressed 
 early and cried aloud : " No one is to open a stock 
 ing till all are ready, and then come all together here. 
 
 " I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New 
 Year." 
 
 And then from every curtain there echoed her joyous 
 cry: 
 
 " Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." 
 
 Every sort of riff-raff was in the stockings oranges, 
 nuts, raisins, old jack-knives, little hemlock cones done 
 up in dainty jewel-boxes, and sometimes the bona-fide 
 presents, which had been hidden away for this morning. 
 Paul Decker's presents to the rest were all spirited little 
 drawings on cards. Perhaps he had some of them in 
 his pack. Clearly enough he had drawn most of them 
 by the baggage-master's lantern, after the party had 
 broke up for the night before. For they were little 
 sketches of things that had happened or had been 
 talked of the day before. To Mrs. Van Sandfoord he 
 gave a little picture of his great-grandfather reading 
 Governor Trumbull's Thanksgiving Proclamation. To 
 Miss Bourn he gave a spirited drawing of Joseph well 
 
no OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 conceived, in a vigorous attitude just drawing back 
 his stone to throw it at the yelping dog. 
 
 Here he had washed in a little paint. Faces and 
 rocks showed their colors. 
 
 And the yelping dog was yellow. 
 
 The presents made no end of fun, and the breakfast 
 which followed was jolly beyond compare. 
 
 So was struck happily the key-note of the day. 
 
 It was fairly ten o'clock when the palace was quite 
 full with three times the number of its regular 
 occupants. The Christmas party had made itself up 
 exactly as the wily proposer of it had suggested. 
 
 Professor Wisner and his associates had taken faith 
 fully in hand the duty given them. Really he led in 
 the singing, in that noble baritone voice which has 
 charmed and won so many assemblies so much larger. 
 They had taken possession of the baggage-car for 
 practice, and, as they sang, the tears stood in the eyes 
 of more than one of those around ; and, when there 
 was a chance for a chorus, the company joined with 
 a devotion and tenderness that St. Stephen's or the 
 Vatican might envy. 
 
 Christmas began with a devout strain, harmonizing 
 well with the key, as it should do. 
 
 One hymn and another, indeed, filled up well-nigh 
 an hour with chatter and consultation as to times 
 between. 
 
 At eleven Hector Van Sandfoord stood on the coal- 
 box, and with a loud voice he said : " Ladies and 
 gentlemen, we have only too little time for our pro 
 gramme. You will give your attention to Mr. Hack 
 matack, and he will read to you Mr. Collingwood's 
 original Christmas tale, called 
 
CHRISTMAS MORXINGCOONEY CAMP. Ill 
 
 "CHRISTMAS IN COONEY CAMP." 
 
 The citizens of Cooney Camp were considerably 
 excited. I do not wish to be understood as implying 
 that social life at Cooney Camp was usually very stag 
 nant. It has always been known as the liveliest camp 
 on the river, and nobly did its citizens strive to sus 
 tain its reputation. But there was something so strange 
 about the present excitement that I feel it my duty to 
 chronicle it. 
 
 Cooney 's was simply a lumber camp in the wild north 
 woods of Michigan. In a little clearing on the side 
 of a high hill a few rough log buildings were gathered. 
 The public buildings were not known by any high- 
 sounding names. They were simply the " Men's 
 Shanty," the " Cook's Shanty," and the " Foreman's 
 Shanty." These, with barns and sheds, and a few 
 small log houses for such lumbermen as could be in 
 duced to bring their families into the woods, made 
 up the whole of the settlement. 
 
 But if the architectural development of Cooney 
 Camp was of an inferior quality, its society was, to 
 use a camp phrase, " way up." The thirty lumber 
 men who made up its working force were, for the most 
 part, as rough specimens of humanity as could well be 
 found. They were proud of the fact that they could 
 produce two fiddlers, five singers, and one gentleman 
 who could play numberless airs on a " mouth-organ." 
 
 Heavy literary work was not, perhaps, much in their 
 line, but if occasion required they could produce 
 Frank, a college student, who had come into the woods 
 in the hope of finding health and strength in the rough 
 out-door life. 
 
 But greater than all these attractions, the point 
 
1 12 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 wherein Cooney's stood far ahead of other camps, was 
 the fact that she possessed the society of "two 
 wimmin an' a kid." The foreman's wife kept house 
 for her husband in the little log shanty nearest the 
 wood, while on the other side of the clearing, opposite 
 the " Men's" shanty, lived " Cracknosed ' Smith, with 
 his wife and little girl. 
 
 Smith had been given his nickname from the singu 
 lar appearance of his nose. This member had been 
 broken and twisted and cracked, until it was unlike any 
 other nose ever seen. 
 
 Cooney Camp could easily have dispensed with the 
 society of Cracknose, but it would have been hard work 
 to get along without the little girl. She was the 
 pride of the camp, the brightest, dearest, little bud of 
 humanity that ever attempted to blossom in suth a 
 rough place. She was like a delicate mountain flower 
 growing alone among bare, bleak rocks. 
 
 I remember one day that " Cracknose" attempted to 
 whip her. A dozen men at once informed him, in the 
 forcible language of Cooney Camp, tha* if he touched 
 her they would thrash him within an inch of his life. 
 
 It is needless to say that the whipping was post 
 poned. 
 
 But, as we started to say, there was a strange excite 
 ment in Cooney Camp. 
 
 It was Christmas eve, and some little reflection of 
 the happiness and good-cheer in the world outside 
 seemed to have fallen upon the camp. 
 
 The men came in from their work in the woods in 
 great good humor. It is wonderful how, at such a 
 time, the true nature of a man shines out, and how 
 little, foolish, blundering acts betray a warm heart 
 beneath a rough exterior. Each man, as he came into 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING- COONEY CAMP. 113 
 
 camp, brought, half foolishly, some little Christmas 
 token. It was only a bunch of hemlock branches, or 
 a bunch of red berries, or, perhaps, some fragrant cedar 
 boughs ; but, slight as they were, the little tokens 
 showed their appreciation of the day. 
 
 In a more civilized community it would have been 
 considered a very simple thing for a man to pick up a 
 bit of green at Christmas, but with these rough fellows 
 it was different. Here was red-haired Tom, who had 
 killed a man in the next county, coming in with a 
 bunch of winter berries. Here was Jake, who kicked 
 an Indian out of doors but the week before, dragging 
 in a great mass of hemlock, and even old Bill coming 
 in with a great tree on his back, which he proceeded 
 to decorate with old boots and shoes, to the great 
 delight of the boys. Every one was good-natured, and 
 all were bent on having a good time. 
 
 Hugh, the first fiddler, put a new string in his violin, 
 and having found its tone to be perfect, laid it care, 
 fully away in his bunk till after supper. 
 
 Mike and Fred appointed themselves a committee of 
 arrangements, and announced that, as soon as supper 
 was over, the floor would be cleared fora "two by 
 four," that being the camp name for a square dance. 
 
 Supper was eaten in a great hurry, and back the men 
 rushed to the shanty, and took their places on the floor 
 to walk through the great " two by four." 
 
 Sing, ye muse, of a pine wood's dance ! The men 
 stand in place, with their outer clothing tossed aside, 
 ready at the signal to throw themselves into the 
 motion. Those who are to impersonate ladies are dis 
 tinguished from the others by removing their hats. 
 They stand as solemn as owls in the consciousness of 
 their new dignity, and "gallivant left" and "ladies 
 
114 OUR CUTRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 chain" with becoming modesty. The fiddler sits 
 above them on an empty pork-barrel, with his fiddle 
 clasped lovingly under his chin, ready to set the party 
 in motion at the touch of his magic bow. The lantern 
 hangs from a nail in the roof. The fire-light flashes 
 over all, bringing out the rough walls and empty bunks 
 in bold relief. 
 
 So the Cooney campers stood that Christmas eve, 
 waiting for the signal, when the door opened, and in 
 rushed old Jack gruff, grizzled old Jack, the roughest, 
 ugliest, and most profane man in camp. 
 
 " Shet up this yer old circus," he shouted, "an' 
 hark what I tell ye. ' ' 
 
 The " set" broke up in a moment. Hugh dropped 
 his fiddle and bow, and Mike, who was to " call off," 
 stood silent, with his mouth open in the very act of 
 ordering " s'lute pardners. " 
 
 ' Thar's a man in this yar camp," said Jack, " ez 
 wants humpin'. It kinder come over me all ter onst, 
 thet I'd go up ter Smith's, an' git his woman an' kid 
 ter come down an' see the fun. But when I gut thar, 
 blame me ef he warn't layin' ez drunk ez a loon, with 
 his woman a-yellin', an' thet little kid jest a-lookin' at 
 him with them big eyes of hern. Now blame me ef 
 it's right. Somethin' orter be did." 
 
 Jack's story was, I regret to say, true. Poor 
 " Cracknose," being anxious to celebrate the day in a 
 manner becoming his birth and education, had pro 
 vided himself with a large bottle of whiskey. He had 
 partaken so frequently of his Christmas cheer, however, 
 that he was already, as Jack expressed it, " drunk as 
 a loon." 
 
 A howl of indignation went up from the crowd as 
 Jack finished. It may be that the indignation of some 
 
CHRISTMAS MOKA/ffGCOONEY CAMP. lie 
 
 of the boys was not unmixed with envy at Smith's 
 good fortune in securing the wherewithal to get " drunk 
 as a loon." There were probably very few men in 
 camp who, had they possessed the means, would not 
 have speedily drunk themselves into Smith's condition. 
 The/ had all enough manhood, however, to despise one 
 who would get drunk before his woman and kid, and 
 such a little kid, too. They certainly believed with 
 Jack that Smith deserved a " humpin' " of the most 
 advanced kind. 
 
 What should be done about it ? Unconsciously the 
 men resolved themselves into a committee of the 
 whole to consider the matter. It was a serious ques 
 tion. 
 
 " I moves," said Barney, the logical man of camp, 
 " I moves that we sends up a ' fcermithy. ' ' 
 
 " Kermithy be hanged," put in Jack; "the only 
 * &rmithy ' yer want is a formithy to go up thar an' 
 thump the life out of Smith, an' I app'ints myself 
 as cheerman of said ' ^rmithy. ' ' Then he added 
 quickly, "Is they any remarks? Ef not, them ez 
 stands by it say aye ! ' ' 
 
 There was a loud chorus of " aye !" Anything in 
 the shape of a free-fight was to be encouraged by all 
 possible means in Cooney Camp. 
 
 Jack went on, " Them ez is agin it say ' No,' an' I'll 
 thump their heads fer them." Not a word was said, 
 and the motion was certainly carried. Jack's fist was 
 too heavy to admit of much argument. Some of the 
 voters could hardly see the practical good of " thump 
 ing the life" out of a man who was already dead drunk, 
 but they were silent from prudential motives. 
 
 Jack " app'inted" Tom and Bill as other members of 
 the "^rmithy," and the three worthies started out. 
 
Il6 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 The rest of the men stood at the door of the shanty 
 and watched them. 
 
 A bright light shone from the window of Smith's 
 house, and through it the "kermithy" stole by the 
 corner, and held a whispered consultation. Then Jack 
 stepped up to the window and looked in. But what 
 was the matter with him ? Why did he not go in with 
 the " kermithy," and proceed to " thump the life out 
 of Smith" ? 
 
 He stood looking in at the window, and presently 
 his hard old hand stole up and took off the rough cap 
 he wore. He stood without a covering in the cold 
 night air. This was too much for the endurance of 
 the waiting crowd. To be sure they had sent the 
 " kermithy" to do their work, but if its members 
 refused to serve, they must take the matter into their 
 own hands. As one man, they ran as silently as 
 possible through the snow and looked over Jack's 
 shoulder. If any of them had any inclination to be 
 noisy, the sight that met their eyes silenced them in a 
 moment. 
 
 The same scene was being enacted, no doubt, in 
 thousands of homes at thai time, but nowhere under 
 the same circumstances. The little " kid" was just 
 going to bed, and was kneeling, as children do, before 
 her mother to say her prayers. At the back of the 
 room lay Cracknose in a drunken sleep. In front sat 
 the mother, listening to the little girl, and correcting 
 her when she forgot a word. The poor woman had 
 been crying, and the great tears stood in her eyes, as 
 she watched the small petitioner. 
 
 The little one went slowly through the old " Now I 
 lay me down to sleep," and then began a prayer of her 
 own, speaking in her baby voice so that the crowd 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING COONEY CAMP. 117 
 
 , 
 
 outside could hear her: " Dod bess everybody, and 
 pease let old Santy Caus put a dolly in my stockirT 
 dood-night." There was nothing more. The woman 
 caught the child in her arms and burst out crying, 
 while the audience outside stole silently back to the 
 shanty. 
 
 Not a word was spoken. Jack and his " kermithy" 
 had forgotten their mission of thumping the life out of 
 Smith, and there was not a man in camp who would 
 call upon them to " rise and report progress." 
 
 The childish prayer had touched a chord in the hearts 
 of the rough lumber-men that had been long forgotten. 
 It gave them all a new idea for their Christmas. 
 
 The dance was forgotten. Hugh silently laid his 
 fiddle away, and the company stood waiting for Jack, 
 the acknowledged leader, to speak. 
 
 " Who is this yer blame ' Santy ' Claus ?" said he at 
 last with a scowl. 
 
 The boys tried to tell him. Most of them, perhaps, 
 had seen a Christmas tree, and had watched the good 
 old saint enter with his bells and great beard. But 
 not one of them could explain. They were like great 
 children. 
 
 At last, Ira, who, as the head of a large and con. 
 stantly increasing family, was supposed to be posted 
 on home matters, began : 
 
 " Wall, he's a man ; an ole man, ye see " 
 
 "Wall," put in Jack, "he wants ter bring thet 
 blame doll-baby ter-night, or I'll lick the face off en 
 him." 
 
 " But ye can't do it," argued Ira. 
 
 " Can't !" yelled Jack. " Who says I can't ? How 
 big is he ? What will he weigh ? I'll fight him ef he 
 weighs a ton. ' 
 
Ii8 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE 
 
 " But ye see," explained Ira, " he ain't no man at 
 all ; only a kinder wall, a kinder thing ez comes 
 around an' fills the kids' stockin's only he don't fill 
 'em at all, ye see. Ye see the folks they puts the 
 truck in themselves, an' then 'lows ter the kids thet 
 this yer ' Santy ' Claus must hev done it. The kids 
 they kinder takes it all in, an' " and Ira proceeded 
 to tell all the simple story. 
 
 Old Jack listened attentively. " An' so this yer hull 
 bizness is a derned ' give' on thet kid, is it ? Blame me 
 ef it's white ter swap lies with sech a kid ez thet. 
 Ye jest wait till I see inter this a bit" and out he 
 strode to Smith's cabin. 
 
 The crowd wonderingly followed him at a respectful 
 distance, and while he went in, they gathered again 
 outside. 
 
 Through the window they could see that the little 
 girl had at last gone to bed. Her small, blue stock 
 ing, patched and worn, hung from a nail by the bed, all 
 ready for Santa Claus and the doll. 
 
 Jack came out at last, and walked straight to the 
 shanty, the crowd following him. Without a word he 
 pulled on his coat and fur cap. 
 
 ' The woman says she ain't gut no doll-baby fer the 
 kid, an' ez Santy Claus ain't nut kin , I'm jest gonter 
 fill thet stockin' myself. Who'll walk ter Crystal with 
 me an' git some truck fer it ?" 
 
 Every man in camp shouted : " I will." 
 
 " I don't want but one uv ye draw lots," said Jack. 
 
 Thirty little blocks of wood were quickly prepared, 
 and on one of them was written the word "go." 
 These were shaken in a cap, and it was agreed that 
 the one drawing the marked block should accompany 
 Jack. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNINGCOONEY CAMP. 119 
 
 As a compliment to his v supposed literary ability 
 Frank was appointed to hold the hat. The men 
 crowded around him, all anxious to get a chance to do 
 something for the " kid." 
 
 One after another the blocks were taken out. They 
 were all blanks. At last there were only two left and 
 Bill and Frank to draw. Bill drew first and took out 
 a blank. Frank was to go with Jack and act as Santa 
 Claus. They pulled on their rough coats and hats, 
 and started at once. 
 
 Crystal was ten miles away by the road, but by go 
 ing through the forest one mile each way could be 
 saved. Jack determined to try the nearest way, and 
 immediately started up the hill into the forest, leaving 
 Frank to follow as best he could. 
 
 The men stood at the shanty door, and watched 
 them till they passed out of sight under the trees. 
 
 It was a beautiful night. The stars were all out, and 
 the moon shone through the trees, glancing on the 
 frost-covered branches, till they sparkled like diamonds. 
 
 A gentle breeze blew softly through the forest. The 
 thin- leaved cedars whispered and rustled their down- 
 growing branches. The clustering hemlocks held the 
 wandering breeze for a moment to send it on again, 
 freighted with a rude harmony, while the great pines 
 spread out their long, needle-like, numberless ^Eolian 
 harps to swell the grand symphony of nature. 
 
 Jack strode on ahead, like his namesake of old who 
 wore the seven-leagued boots. 
 
 How he did walk ! Logs, stumps, brush were as 
 nothing to him. He plunged and pushed and dodged 
 his way along, ever keeping straight ahead for Crystal. 
 Frank could hardly keep him in sight. 
 
 Perhaps it was due to this fact, or that this was his 
 
120 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 first experience as Santa Claus, that Frank began to 
 doubt the wisdom of the journey. He began to fear 
 that they had come on a very ridiculous errand. Why 
 should they walk twenty miles through the frozen snow 
 simply to procure a " doll -baby" for that little girl? 
 The idea was absurd ! How much more comfortable 
 they would be in camp by the fire ! 
 
 Jack seemed to have been thinking in much the same 
 way, for he waited on a log for Frank to overtake him. 
 Then he began: " Wot blamed fools we be ain't we ? 
 Here we be drivin' off here hell-bent fer 'lection, jest 
 fer a kid. It beats all." Then he added apologeti 
 cally, " Ye see some blamed fool hez ben swappin' lies 
 with thet kid, an' she takes it all in ! The lie's told, 
 an', hang me, ef I don't stand by it. She'll find out 
 soon nuff thet this yer Santy Claus is a derned whelp, 
 an' I'm in for makin' her think he's all straight ez long 
 ez I kin." 
 
 After this oration Jack started again, while Frank 
 struggled after him as best he could. 
 
 Rough old Jack ! He had hardly been known to do 
 a good deed before ; what could have sent him on 
 such a tramp ? Of what was he thinking, as he strug 
 gled through the woods on that cheerless journey to 
 Crystal ? Perhaps the words of the little " kid" came 
 to him even then, " Dod bess everybody." Perhaps 
 the little voice had wakened in his tough old heart 
 some memory that had lain slumbering for years. 
 
 At any rate, in his rough way, he had spoken the right 
 idea. What was the long, cold walk, after all, to the 
 thought that by taking it they kept alive the little one's 
 faith in the old story of Christmas, and staved off, for 
 a while at least, the knowledge of the deceit and heart- 
 lessness of the world ? 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNIN& COONEY CAMP. .121 
 
 Presently Jack stopped again. " This yer blamed 
 Santy Claus in this yer play comes down the chimbly, 
 don't he?" 
 
 Frank stated that this was his favorite way of 
 entrance. 
 
 ' Wall, thar ain't no chimbly ter thet shanty, 
 nuthin' but a stove-pipe. I'll 'low thet I'll jab a hole 
 through the ruff with my axe, so we can kerry out the 
 hull blamed play." 
 
 On they pressed, mile after mile, till, at last, after 
 climbing an unusually steep hill, they looked down 
 upon a clearing, in which stood, perhaps, a half dozen 
 small houses clustered around a saw-mill. " Here we 
 be," said Jack "here's Crystal." 
 
 There was something weird and romantic in the sight 
 as they looked down upon the little hamlet. 
 
 The village was built in a small clearing, which 
 looked to the two representatives of Santa Claus on the 
 hill as if some huge giant in his rage had pulled out a 
 great handful of the forest. The snow lay deep on 
 the ground, and great blackened stumps stood all about 
 the clearing, like sentinels watching while the village 
 slept. The moonbeams played over all, bringing out 
 each ghostly corner and hole, while the tall smoke 
 stack of the saw-mill rose in the midst like a watch- 
 tower. 
 
 But Jack and Frank had no time for such romantic 
 thoughts as these. They hurried down the one street 
 of the village, until Jack stopped before a small log- 
 house, and began a vigorous kicking upon its door. 
 On a shingle over this door Frank read in black, 
 straggling letters, " Poste Offis" " Goods to Traide. " 
 
 Jack warmed his toes on the door, till above it a 
 small window opened, and a man's head appeared. 
 
122 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 " Open up, yer old brute," roared Jack. The head 
 had evidently just pulled itself out of bed, and seemed 
 to belong to a very profane man ; for, in a loud voice, 
 it forcibly informed the citizens of Crystal that it hadn't 
 gut no whiskey ner no " terbacky. " 
 
 This announcement of the lack of these two staples 
 had but little effect on Jack. He shouted back : " We 
 wanter git some Christmas truck, so open up yer door, 
 or I'll kick it down," and he proceeded to bestow 
 upon it a series of kicks that would soon have caved 
 it in, had not the owner profanely agreed to "open 
 up." 
 
 In a short time he appeared at the door, and grum 
 bled as he bade them enter. 
 
 Jack and Frank passed into the little store. But 
 now, for the first time since the start, Jack hung back. 
 He could walk or fight or swear for the "kid," but 
 selecting presents for her stocking was more than he 
 could do. 
 
 He pushed Frank ahead, saying : " You know some 
 thing about these things, jest pick out yer truck, an', 
 mind ye, I'll pay fer it." 
 
 The stock of goods at the " Crystal Emporium" was 
 not very extensive. One could find plenty of flour or 
 sugar or pork, but the purely holiday goods were almost 
 gone. 
 
 After a careful search, however, Frank found a few 
 nuts, an old Jew's-harp, a jumping-jack with only one 
 leg which could possibly be induced to jump, a tin 
 whistle with a most melancholy sound, and, as luck 
 would have it, a large orange. There were also a few 
 ounces of cheap candy, which Frank took with many 
 misgivings. He feared its effect on the stomach of 
 the little stocking-hanger. This was all. 
 
CHRISTMAS MO R XING -COO KEY CAMP. 123 
 
 Jack was detemined to find a doll. ' The kid wants 
 a doll-baby, an' hang me ef she don't hev it ef I have 
 to walk fifty miles fer it." 
 
 The merchant prince of Crystal, evidently anxious 
 to return to bed as quickly as possible, suggested that 
 his woman could " kinder slip a sorter dress like onter 
 the jumpin'-jack so it could pass fer a doll-baby." 
 
 This started Jack's ire at once. ' Ye don't ring no 
 jumpin'-jack with one sound leg off onter me. I tell 
 ye I want a doll-baby with two sound legs an' plenty 
 of fixin's." 
 
 Just at this point the merchant's wife came down 
 stairs to try and settle the dispute. She was such a 
 motherly-looking person that Frank took heart and told 
 her the whole story of the little girl's prayer, and her 
 want of a dolly. 
 
 The woman was probably a very practical person. 
 She could hardly have been otherwise, living as she did 
 in such a place. But in every woman's heart there 
 lies a spot that the smallest, weakest little child can 
 touch to life. 
 
 She thought for a moment, and then pulled back an 
 old blanket which hung at one end of the room, and 
 pointed to a rough bed in which lay two children asleep. 
 Over their heads hung two little stockings, crowded 
 full of trinkets for them to see in the morning. 
 
 Jack stood and looked in wonder. All he could say 
 was, " Santy Claus done it !" 
 
 The good woman took a small package from one of 
 the stockings, and handed it to the astonished Jack, 
 saying : " Here is a doll for you. It is the best we 
 can do." 
 
 There may have been a tear in her eye as she thought 
 of the little girl far away in the woods, but this fact did 
 
124 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 not prevent her genial husband from remarking, inci 
 dentally, that the doll was " wuth jest about two 
 shillin's." 
 
 Jack and Frank gathered their treasures and started 
 back. They hurried up the steep hill into the forest, 
 meaning to follow their track back to camp. 
 
 They had hardly gone a mile before Jack turned to 
 Frank and said, " It's gonter cloud up we must make 
 fer the road an' foller it inter camp." Quickly they 
 turned to the right, and struck out through the woods 
 for camp. 
 
 But not quite quick enough. Great black clouds 
 came rushing over the sky, and, one by one, the stars 
 were hid from sight. Under the trees the darkness 
 was complete. 
 
 Jack and Frank wandered on, as best they could, 
 apparently going deeper and deeper into the forest, 
 and yet unable to correct their way. 
 
 Suddenly Jack fell down over a log and lay with a 
 groan. He was up soon, however. His hand was hurt 
 somewhat, and his leg caught under a limb. As he 
 pulled his leg away from its fastening, Frank asked him 
 how his hand felt. " Dern the hand," he growled ; 
 " wait till I see ef thet doll-baby is broke." 
 
 The toy was uninjured, and when this had been 
 ascertained, on they started once more. 
 
 At last Jack stopped. ' This thing hez gut ter be 
 broke. We kin live out here well 'nuff till mornin', but 
 the p'int is ter git back ter fill thet stockin'. Wait till 
 I build a fire. P'raps the boys will see it." 
 
 Jack soon found a dry cedar, with which he quickly 
 built a fire at the foot of a huge pine. The flames went 
 roaring up into the air, and by their light the two 
 Christmas commissioners saw the long-desired road but 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING- COONEY CAMP. 125 
 
 a few rods away. They had been travelling by the side 
 of it in the wrong direction. 
 
 They had still eight miles to go, and tired as they 
 were, it was nearly three o'clock before they came in 
 sight of camp. 
 
 They knew that the boys would be waiting for them 
 at the shanty, but Jack had become suddenly indepen 
 dent. " Say, what's the use fer the hull crowd ter go 
 inter this thing ? Why not I an' you jest do this work, 
 an' hev it did?" 
 
 Jack's word in such a case was surely law, and so the 
 two men crept by the shanty to the little house, each 
 one a very guilty Santa Claus, quite unlike his jovial, 
 happy self. 
 
 There was no jingle of bells or pulling in of reindeer, 
 but just two men in rough clothing, half ashamed of 
 their errand, creeping like convicts through the cold. 
 They pushed open the door of the rude cabin, and 
 entered as silently as possible. The lamp was turned 
 low, and the fire burned dimly. 
 
 Smith lay as before. His wife had, perhaps, surmised 
 Jack's errand, and tried to sit up for him, but, worn 
 out by watching, she was sleeping in her chair by the 
 table. 
 
 The little girl lay asleep with her pretty hair strag 
 gling down over the pillow. Frank filled the stove 
 with wood, while Jack hastily thrust the few simple 
 presents into the stocking. Though he did not know 
 it, he looked like a veritable Santa Claus with his 
 grizzled beard and rough fur cap. 
 
 The stocking was full, and yet Jack lingered. The 
 orange could not be induced to enter the stocking, so 
 he laid it on the pillow by the side of the little sleeper. 
 Perhaps the child-face on the pillow was too much for 
 
126 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 him, for, as if moved by a sudden impulse, he bent 
 over and kissed the tiny rosebud of a mouth. 
 
 The little one woke for a moment, and asked in her 
 baby-voice, " Is you Santy Caus ?" 
 
 " No ! be hanged ef I be," said Jack, and then, re 
 membering where he was, he blushed, as nearly as he 
 could, through his red face. 
 
 The two impersonators of Santa Claus stole silently 
 from the cabin. As they went, Jack growled in his 
 old threatening way, " If ye tell the boys of thet, I'll 
 lick ye till ye can't see." 
 
 Thus was the one stocking filled in Cooney Camp. 
 Santa Claus did find his way over the rough winding 
 road, and, guided by a strange, tender, and beautiful 
 power, he stopped at the poor cabin on the hill. What 
 though he did come without his sleigh or his bells ! 
 What though the journey left him weary, cold, and 
 lame ! He came and did his work and went his way 
 with a lighter and purer heart than he had known for 
 years. 
 
 The Christmas sun came dancing over the tops of the 
 trees before many of the inhabitants of Cooney Camp 
 were stirring. 
 
 The cook had been up for an hour, working away in 
 his shanty at the Christmas breakfast. He had not 
 much material with which to work, but, by taking 
 extra care with his fried pork, and boiling the potatoes 
 without their skins, he hoped to be able to win the 
 applause of the crowd. He had also a surprise in 
 the shape of several dried-apple pies, with which he 
 thought to achieve a grand triumph. 
 
 But the rest of the Cooney Campers were for the 
 most part still in their bunks. Sunday was always a 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING-^COONEY CAMP. 127 
 
 day of rest. It was the great day for card-playing and 
 dancing, and when Christmas came on the same day, 
 they surely could not think of getting up as early as 
 usual. So they lay in their bunks and waited till the 
 horn blew, when they sprang to the floor and hastily 
 prepared for breakfast. 
 
 Not a word was said about the events of the previous 
 night. There seemed to be a tacit agreement that 
 the subject should not be mentioned, yet it was noticed 
 after breakfast that there was a general desire to see 
 how Smith was " gittin' over his drunk." 
 
 In delegations of two and three the lumbermen 
 visited his cabin, and it is safe to say that on that 
 Christmas he received more visitors than on any 
 previous celebration of the holiday. 
 
 The visitors came back with wonderful stories of the 
 liberality of Santa Claus. It seemed to be understood 
 that they should ignore entirely their knowle jge of the 
 journey to Crystal, and seek to carry out the less prob 
 able but more romantic theory of Santa Claus and his 
 deer and bells. 
 
 "I'll be hanged," said Tom thoughtfully, " ef this 
 yer Santy Claus ain't done a big thing. Talk about 
 yer play truck I tell ye thet kid hez gut some ez lays 
 over the largest. Leavin' out thet doll-baby, thar's a 
 figger of a man with a string hangin' down betwixt his 
 legs, an' when ye yank the string, I'm derned ef the 
 off leg won't kick ter beat all." 
 
 The unexpected visit of the good old saint had 
 started all the latent aestheticism which had thus far 
 lain dormant in Cooney Camp. There was a general 
 overhauling of old clothes, in the hope of rinding a 
 clean shirt or a paper collar. Several of the men even 
 expressed a desire to shave ; and at last, Barney, after 
 
128 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 carefully sharpening his knife on the grindstone, 
 opened an impromptu barber's shop in one corner of 
 the shanty. 
 
 Even old Jack caught the infection. He pulled out 
 from somewhere in his bunk a soiled paper collar, 
 which he proceeded to pin, with great gravity, to his 
 flannel shirt. This, with a little sprig of pine in the 
 button-hole of his vest, made up the extras of his 
 Christmas costume. He made a desperate effort to 
 bring his mop of hair into some sort of shape, but gave 
 it up after a violent struggle. 
 
 After making all his preparations, he lounged about 
 the shanty, evidently ill at ease. It may have been the 
 paper collar or the fear of ridicule from the boys that 
 troubled him. He evidently wished to go over to 
 Smith's, and yet could hardly summon up courage 
 enough to start. 
 
 As a fighter Jack was supreme. In woodcraft or in 
 all the social qualities which became lumbermen, he 
 had no superior ; but at making Christmas calls, or at 
 framing excuses for a visit, the smallest boy could beat 
 him easily. He blundered about to find some pretence 
 for going over to see what the little girl thought of 
 Santa Claus. 
 
 The other boys had been anxious " to see how Smith 
 was gittin' over his drunk," but Jack took a more 
 probable reason for going. He 'lowed at last that he'd 
 go over an' see ef Smith hed drinked up all his whiskey. 
 He felt kinder picked, an' 'lowed he could emp't the 
 bottle dern soon. It was a good sight better fer a man 
 ter drink it ez hed head enough ter keep right side up. 
 
 Transparent as this excuse was, it was enough for 
 the boys. They said nothing, and Jack, fortifying him 
 self with an immense piece of tobacco, strolled care- 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING COONEY CAMP. 129 
 
 lessly over to Smith's house. He stopped long enough 
 at the door to throw a long stream of tobacco juice 
 over the white snow, and then pushed it open and went 
 in. 
 
 Quite a number of the boys were there already, and 
 the little girl was holding a regular levee in one corner. 
 She was displaying her treasures in great glee. 
 
 Barney sat with the doll carefully held between two 
 of his great fingers. Bill had the poor jumping-jack, 
 pulling the string, and making the one sound leg 
 belabor the air most violently. 
 
 Hugh, the musician of the camp, was extracting a 
 very melancholy tune from the Jew's-harp, while Mike 
 blew a doleful blast on the tin whistle. Mrs. Smith, 
 busy over the stove, looked at the jolly crowd, and 
 smiled for the first time in many days. Even " Crack- 
 nose" himself, blear-eyed and weak-kneed and light 
 headed from his Christmas celebration, seemed to 
 catch something of the fun and good-will of the 
 moment. 
 
 Jack nodded gruffly to the company, and taking a 
 stick of wood from the pile behind the stove, made 
 himself an impromptu seat against the wall. He for 
 got his supposed errand in regard to the whiskey, but 
 sat and watched the group around the happy little 
 " kid" in the corner. 
 
 It may be because Jack was the leader of the camp, 
 and hence deserved more attention, or it may be that 
 something told the little maid that he was a relative 
 of Santa Claus. At any rate, she gathered her treasures 
 in her apron, and came and stood by his knee to show 
 them. 
 
 If one of the men had dared to insinuate that in all 
 Jack's nature there was the least touch of softness or 
 
130 OUR CHRISTMAS IN 1 A PALACE. 
 
 gentleness, he would have been knocked down at once. 
 The little face of the child, however, looking into 
 his, saw something of the kind. She climbed fearlessly 
 upon his knee, and spread out her presents for him to 
 see. 
 
 Jack was in a most awkward position. It was strange 
 that he did not make her get down. But there he sat, 
 handling the doll and the jumping-jack, and even at 
 tempting a tune on the Jew's-harp. 
 
 The little girl was loud in her praise of Santa Glaus. 
 She had seen him, too. She was awake, she said, 
 while he was filling the stocking, and had a good chance 
 to see him. He looked, she thought, very much like 
 Jack himself. 
 
 This was, perhaps, the greatest compliment that the 
 little one could give, but it almost made Jack blush for 
 shame to think he was so near being discovered. 
 
 He made haste to throw the " kid" off the track by 
 describing an imaginary meeting with Santa Claus. 
 The others listened with grave faces, nodding their 
 heads encouragingly at each point. 
 
 " Ye see," said Jack, " I run onter this yer Santy 
 Claus myself last night. I cum out of the shanty about 
 twelve o'clock, like enuff, an' I seen a man climbin' on 
 the ruff of yer house. I 'lowed it might be Santy, so 
 I jest slipped behind a stump, and watched him. Sure 
 'nuff it were Santy. He had a big kinder bag on his 
 back, chuck full of all kinds of truck. He had on a fur 
 hat, and a kinder shirt made out of skin, an' a pair uv 
 light ' pickydilly ' pants, an' a pair of rubber boots. 
 He dumb along the ridge-pole, an' kinder stopped by 
 the stove-pipe jest like he wuz comin' down. He 
 histed up one foot an' stuck it inter the pipe, but thar 
 in stuck. It wouldn't go down, an' Santy, he jest 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNIN-C-COONEY CAMP. 131 
 
 yanked it out, an* jumped up an* down, he wuz ser mad. 
 Then he come down frum the ruff, an' kinder pushed 
 agin the door an' went in. I 'low he must hev filled 
 the stockin' then. Then he come out an* started off 
 down the road playin' a tune on jest sech a Jew's-harp 
 ez this one here. I 'low it must hev ben the mate 
 to it." 
 
 The little girl listened in open-mouthed wonder to 
 Jack's story, but Smith amazed the crowd by begin 
 ning to cross-question the narrator. 
 
 ' Ye sed he hed on a fur cap, didn't ye ?" 
 
 "Wall, yes, I 'low I sed so !" 
 
 " Did he hev a big nose, an' kinder gray beard, an' 
 red hair, an' a pair of kinder brown pickydillies ?" 
 
 " Wall, p'raps he did, an' then agin p'raps he didn't. 
 What is it ter ye ef he did or ef he didn't ; he didn't 
 hev no call ter put truck in your stockin', did he?" 
 growled out Jack, for he felt that he was being pushed 
 into a corner. 
 
 Smith meekly admitted that 4< in course" it warn't 
 nothin' ter him, but he kinder hed an idee thet Santy 
 Claus must hev looked jest like unto a man ez he 
 knowed onct. The best feller ter drink he ever see. 
 He had seen him with his own eyes set by a bar, an' 
 drink frum a dozen ter twenty glasses, an' never git 
 " set up." It beat all how that man could drink, and 
 Smith sighed as he thought of the moral effect he 
 might produce on the community if he could only drink 
 an unlimited quantity of whiskey without " getting set 
 up." 
 
 This explanation started all the bile in Jack's nature. 
 To think of associating Santa Claus with a champion 
 drinker was too much, even for him. Not that he was 
 a special advocate of temperance. In fact, if one had 
 
132 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 wished to give him a most particular compliment, he 
 had only to speak of him as Smith spoke of his friend. 
 But to his mind, Santa Claus was a different sort of 
 personage. Besides, there was the danger of his mix 
 ing up his story, if the subject was continued. 
 
 He turned on poor Smith with his battery of sarcasm. 
 '.' Shet up, you whelp," he roared. " Hang me, ef you 
 ain't mean 'nuff ter steal corn from afore a blind sow." 
 
 There was something so terrible in this statement, 
 that Smith cowered before it. 
 
 But Jack was not satisfied. ' Jest roust out thet 
 thar bottle o' yourn, an' I'll larn ye how ter drink 
 without gittin' set up." 
 
 Smith dared not refuse, but at once produced his 
 bottle of Christmas beverage from its hiding-place in 
 an old boot in the corner. No doubt he expected to 
 see Jack empty it down his own throat, yet his mind 
 may have been buoyed up by the thought that he 
 might possibly get some little insight into the secret 
 of his drinking friend's endurance. Jack grasped the 
 bottle, but instead of drinking from it, he walked out 
 of the door, and deliberately broke it over a log. Then, 
 casting contemptuously upon the fragments a quantity 
 of tobacco juice, he walked back to the door to give 
 Smith a little wholesome advice. " Look here, 
 ' Cracknose,' ef ye want ter larn the trick of drinkin* 
 without gittin' set up, jest hump up yer back an' go 
 down ter thet spring an' drink all ye kin. A little 
 more of thet spring water inside an' outside will do ye 
 a blamed sight more good than harm ye hear?" 
 
 After delivering this temperance lecture, Jack thrust 
 his hands into his pockets and walked unconcernedly 
 off to the cook's shanty. Here, his first act was to divest 
 himself of the paper collar. " These yar harness," he 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING COONEY CAMP. 133 
 
 remarked, " is likely ter raise collar biles on my neck." 
 Frank sat writing at the greasy table. It was always 
 a wonder to the boys how he could write so many 
 letters. To-day he was unusually busy. Perhaps the 
 thought that this was Christmas day started many 
 pleasant memories, or it may be that the journey of the 
 night before had given him a pleasant theme. At any 
 rate, he wrote on, covering page after page of paper. 
 Jack watched him in silence for awhile, and then broke 
 in with : " Who ist ye write to ser much ? Hang me, ef 
 ye don't sling more ink than a district school. Must 
 hev more gals than a dry-goods clerk. I s'pose yer 
 quite a master among the wimmin, ain't ye ?" 
 
 Frank was obliged to confess that his knowledge of 
 the habits and feelings of the sex was somewhat 
 limited. 
 
 " Wall, what I wuz thinkin' on wuz this. It kinder 
 strikes me thet this yer doll-baby 'thet us two derned 
 fools brung from Crystal last night is a blamed sight 
 too slim fer sech a kid. I'd like ter git a doll-baby 
 with fillygrees an' fixin's. Now, ef you knows any 
 wimmin ez kin give us some p'ints on sech things, why 
 can't ye jest line out the idees and draw out the p'ints. 
 Then we kin kinder keep the thing hot, an' cook up 
 some lie about meetin' Santa Claus agin an' gittin' 
 another doll-baby out of him." 
 
 The cook came in just then, and Jack moved away 
 as if ashamed of his errand. But Frank wrote the 
 letter to his mother, not asking for "p'ints," but 
 simply telling the story of how he acted as Santa 
 Claus. 
 
 Two weeks had gone by since Santa Claus came 
 wandering into Cooney Camp, and aired his " picky- 
 
134 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 dillies" on the roof of Smith's cabin. The visit of the 
 good old saint was almost forgotten by most of the 
 boys. Many weighty things had happened in the 
 mean time. 
 
 The little " kid" remembered him, however, though 
 time had made sad havoc with the presents he left. 
 The candy and orange had long since gone the way of 
 their kind, and, revengeful as Such things are apt to be, 
 had made the little stocking-hanger sick in going. 
 The jumping-jack had kicked his one sound leg com 
 pletely off, and now viewed the world with a most mel 
 ancholy countenance from the little shelf over the 
 bed. Santa Claus himself could hardly have extracted 
 a tune from the Jew's-harp, while ' Cracknose" had 
 accidently stepped on the tin whistle, and thus reduced 
 its former note to a squeak. The poor little "doll- 
 baby" had fallen and broken her nose off, much to the 
 sorrow of the little " kid," who shed many tears over 
 the misfortunes. 
 
 The worthy citizens of Cooney Camp were partaking 
 of their early Sunday supper. The great mountains 
 of beans and salt pork which had confronted them at 
 the beginning of the meal had gone down before their 
 active knives and forks. 
 
 But a silence, entirely new to the occasion, hung 
 over the party. The faces of many of the men were 
 dark with wrath. 
 
 The denizens of Cooney Camp felt that if any part 
 of their etiquette was praiseworthy at all, it was their 
 conduct at table. They fully believed in the physio 
 logical proposition that good nature and good diges 
 tion go hand in hand. A flow of delicate and refined 
 wit could be always observed at their meals. Eating 
 contests were largely encouraged, and the bare walls 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING COONEY CAMP. 135 
 
 of the cook's shanty had looked down on many a 
 gastronomic triumph. 
 
 The Sunday meal had heretofore been particularly 
 lively. News of the week and many pleasant little 
 anecdotes were always retailed for the benefit of the 
 company. 
 
 But now the men sat with glum faces, and ate their 
 meal in silence. They felt that they had been 
 imposed upon. The shadow of a great sorrow had 
 fallen upon them, and they had just received fresh and 
 most direct evidence that this world is all a fleeting 
 show. 
 
 Three days before, the supply teamster had brought 
 into camp a box marked : " Miss Julia Watson, care 
 of T. Smith, Cooney Camp." 
 
 The box was simple enough in its way, but it fell like 
 a shell into the social life of the camp. The excite 
 ment was raised to fever-heat when the teamster in 
 formed the crowd that the owner of the box would 
 follow it on Sunday. 
 
 "Miss Julia Watson, care of T. Smith!" The 
 lumbermen studied the address carefully. Perhaps 
 they expected to obtain some information from the 
 shaky black letters written on the cover. The 
 society of young and beautiful ladies was in active 
 demand in Cooney Camp. By a series of original 
 arguments and inferences, the lumbermen came to 
 the conclusion that " Miss Julia Watson" must be 
 both young and beautiful. 
 
 That she was young was sufficiently proved by the 
 fact that she was a "miss." The genus "spinster" 
 was entirely unknown to Cooney Camp. 
 
 I do not know how they proved the other quality. 
 Perhaps there was something in the name t Ever since 
 
136 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Romeo risked his foolish neck climbing up to Juliet's 
 window, the name of Julia has suggested both love 
 and loveliness. The Cooney campers were probably 
 not very thorough students of Shakespeare, but still 
 there was something about the name that pleased them. 
 Considerable curiosity was developed as to who 
 " T. Smith" might be. This curiosity was, however, 
 dispelled by the appearance of " Cracknose," who 
 shouldered the box and started with it for his cabin. 
 This action tended to spread abroad the fact that to 
 the somewhat plebeian name of Smith he had joined 
 the more aesthetic name of Theodore. 
 
 Not a word could " Cracknose" be induced to say in 
 regard to the lady's appearance. She was simply a 
 relative who was coming up, as he said, to see his 
 " woman." There was a sly twinkle in his eye, unper- 
 ceived by the boys, as he gravely announced that ef the 
 boys wuz a mind ter hustle round an' kinder slick up, 
 one on 'em mought stand a good show. 
 
 This information was enough to set the boys on their 
 mettle at once. Such a washing and shaving and 
 arraying in paper collars and clean shirts had never be 
 fore been seen in camp. The visit of Santa Glaus was 
 nothing compared to this. 
 
 Barney and Bill even went so far as to engage in a 
 fight for the possession of a paper collar. Though 
 Barney at last secured possession of the coveted article, 
 the black eye he received in obtaining it tended to 
 neutralize the general effect it produced. 
 
 Nearly an hour before the time for the supply team, 
 the boys gathered in front of the shanty, to give as 
 much dignity as possible to the reception of the com 
 ing belle of Cooney Camp. 
 
 Some of the more poetic suggested the erection of 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING COONEY CAMP. 137 
 
 an arch of green boughs over the road, but the pro 
 posal did not meet with popular favor. 
 
 The air of restraint that hangs over every formal 
 reception gradually wore away, and the free and easy 
 style of Cooney Camp returned. The boys relieved 
 the tedium of their waiting by betting upon the general 
 appearance of the lady. 
 
 "I'll bet ye," began Tom, " thet she'll show up 
 with yaller hair an' a pick-ed nose." There was some 
 who differed with Tom. They seemed to be of the 
 opinion that the young lady would appear with black 
 hair. Others were positive that her nose would be 
 short, or, as they graphically expressed it, " stubbed." 
 It is my opinion that each one unconsciously described 
 his own ideal of feminine loveliness. Tom's Venus- 
 like description of " yaller hair an' a pick-ed nose" 
 seemed to suit the majority. 
 
 Jack was the only man in camp who looked with 
 undisguised contempt upon the whole affair. 
 
 Possibly he feared that the newcomer would absorb 
 much of the attention now given to the little " kid." 
 He was on the point of giving a sarcastic description 
 of the charms of the newcomer, when the supply team 
 came slowly under the two trees that stood where the 
 road entered the forest. Sure enough, on the seat by 
 the driver was a woman. 
 
 The expectant crowd waited till the wagon slowly 
 rolled over the rough road and came to a halt before 
 them. 
 
 The belle of Cooney Camp had come. 
 
 A thin woman, wrinkled and bent, sat on the seat of 
 the wagon, and looked feebly about her. There was 
 something pitiful and yet ludicrous in the sight. 
 
 The boys were too much overcome to speak. Bill 
 
138 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 could only mutter, " Bewegonter start a bone yard up 
 here ?" Jack laughed at the discomfiture of the boys, 
 and " Cracknose," with a "Howdy, Aunt Jule ?" 
 stepped forward and helped the old lady from the 
 wagon. 
 
 Her greeting was characteristic. She looked at 
 " Cracknose" critically for a moment, and then 
 remarked thoughtfully, " It don't 'pear to me thet 
 yer nose looks quite ser bad ez it did, though p'raps it 
 is because I ain't gut my glasses on." 
 
 Smith received the delicate compliment in silence, 
 and at once led the way to his own cabin. 
 
 It was a critical moment in the history of Cooney 
 Camp. The boys were a little undecided what to 
 do. Should they march in a body and mob the whole 
 Smith family, or should they show their displeasure in 
 some more forcible way ? 
 
 Luckily, at this moment the cook blew a violent 
 blast on the supper horn, and, impelled by the force of 
 habit, the irate reception committee fell in and marched 
 to the shanty. 
 
 As we before stated, the meal, so far as conversation 
 was concerned, was a dire failure. It is hard, however, 
 for a man with a full stomach to retain his anger long. 
 The greatest hate and the most complete disappoint 
 ment can seldom stand before a good dinner. 
 
 Toward the end of the meal the boys came to see 
 something of the joke of the affair, and one or two even 
 ventured to laugh with Jack. 
 
 They were about attacking an instalment of dried- 
 apple pies, when "Cracknose" came in with a small 
 package in his hand. 
 
 'The ole lady," he stated, "hed this yer bundle 
 gin her ter be brought out, jest ez the team started. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING - COONE Y CAMP. 139 
 
 Tears like it must be fer you," and he handed the 
 package to Frank. Then, seeing the angry eyes of the 
 crowd fixed upon him, he rightly inferred that his 
 presence could be easily dispensed with, and slipped 
 out of the door. 
 
 Frank looked at the bundle curiously. It had come 
 all the way from Boston. The boys watched him as he 
 cut the string and took off the paper. 
 
 " I 'low somebody's sent ye a box of cigars. / 
 smoke onct or twict a year," suggested Bill. 
 
 The paper taken off disclosed a long pasteboard box. 
 Frank wonderingly removed the cover, and revealed 
 to the astonished eyes of the crowd a beautiful doll 
 dressed in the very height of fashion, and apparently 
 smiling sweetly at the rough faces gathered about it. 
 
 A little folded slip of paper lay in the box. Frank 
 opened it, and read : " For the little girl in the camp 
 who prayed Santa Glaus to send her a dolly." The 
 little one's prayer had been heard. A far gentler 
 Santa Claus than he who toiled wearily into camp on 
 Christmas morning had been commissioned to fill the 
 little stocking again. 
 
 Hundreds of miles from the rough camp the story 
 of the little " kid" had touched a woman's heart. The 
 " wimmen" had sent Jack " p'ints" with good effect. 
 Perhaps even while the little " kid" was praying in the 
 rough cabin, she who had sent the doll was listening 
 to her own little ones as they sleepily murmured the 
 same little prayer. Perhaps she sat watching them 
 after they had fallen asleep, not with tearful eyes like 
 her who watched beside that little one in the forest, 
 but with a happy, thankful heart. It may be that He, 
 who heard both prayers, answered by moving her to 
 fill the little blue stocking. Perhaps all our prayers are 
 
140 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 answered thus. Would that we could believe it ! 
 Would that we all could have the faith of that little 
 child ! 
 
 When the box was opened, there was an astonished 
 silence for a moment. Such a sight had never before 
 been seen in Cooney Camp. The doll was taken out 
 and carefully handed about for inspection. 
 
 In the bottom of the box were a few little picture- 
 books. These were seized by the more literary 
 members of the crowd, who explained the pictures for 
 the benefit of the less educated. The big men were 
 like children with a new toy. 
 
 " I'll be hanged, "shouted Tom, " ef there ain't a 
 picter of a young lad ez hez dumb up ter the top of a 
 high pump fer ter drink out frum the nizzle." 
 
 Sure enough they could all see it. 
 
 "But," put in Barney, "do ye mind the other 
 young lad with his holt on the handle unbeknownst ter 
 the other?" And the crowd laughed in great glee at 
 the thought of the ducking the first boy would receive. 
 
 But the doll, after all, was the great centre of attrac 
 tion. The little red dress and cape, the blue eyes and 
 the hair, to use Jack's expression, " kinder gut away 
 with a carpet store." 
 
 After the toy had been handed about for a while, 
 Jack suggested that it was time to " call it in." 
 
 He placed it carefully in the box, and announced his 
 intention of taking it over to the " kid" at once. 
 
 " Ye see," he argued, " I hev ben swappin' lies with 
 the kid afore, an' I kin kinder keep the thing hot. I'll 
 tell the story, an' don't one of ye say a word or I'll 
 lick him." 
 
 No one was disposed to question Jack's right to the 
 position of spokesman. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNTW6COONEY CAMP. 141 
 
 Free thought and free speech are two great ele 
 ments of our national freedom ; but when such a fist 
 as Jack's is held in front of him, one is willing to look 
 upon them as the fox regarded the grapes. 
 
 With Jack at their head, the men adjourned to 
 Smith's cabin. Those who could, crowded into the 
 room, while the others looked in at the door and 
 windows. 
 
 The antiquated " miss" had evidently just been giv 
 ing the family an account of her journey. 
 
 Perhaps she looked upon the sudden arrival of the 
 delegation as something in the light of a popular 
 reception extended by the citizens of Cooney Camp to 
 her. 
 
 In order the more fully to show her appreciation of 
 the good-will of the company, she made haste to put 
 on her " glasses," and through them she viewed Jack 
 with undisguised admiration, which tended to em 
 barrass him exceedingly. 
 
 The admiring glance of a lady's eye was enough by 
 itself ; but when it was magnified by passage through 
 the convex lens of a pair of " glasses," to use his own 
 expression, it " gut away" with him. 
 
 He began his remarks by saying that he 'lowed he 
 warn't so derned small thet it tuck four eyes ter see 
 him. Ef he wuz, he'd grow a little. 
 
 This delicate intimation had the desired effect. The 
 " glasses" were removed. 
 
 Jack then proceeded : 
 
 ' Ye see when I ketched this yer Santy Glaus on the 
 ruff here a couple of weeks ago, I didn't say nuthin', 
 but it seemed to me thet the doll-baby he sent wuz 
 pretty blamed slim. He had a big bag on his back, an' 
 I see him sortin' out his truck. Thar wuz lots of big 
 
142 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 doll-babies thar with rale hair an' all the fillygrees. 
 T'warn't none of my bizness, but I sez ter myself, ef I 
 ever see him agin, I'll jest tech him up a bit. I wuz 
 out in the woods ter-day, an', hang me, ef I didn't 
 come plumb onter him. I knowed him by his picky- 
 dilly pants. I jest went up an' sez, ' Hev yer gut any 
 terbacker ? ' He sed he had, an' opens his bag ter find 
 some. When he opens it I see inside ez fine a doll- 
 baby ez ever wuz growed. I made up an' told him 
 jest how the thing stood, an', I'll be hanged, ef he didn't 
 do the square thing. He jest yanked out thet doll- 
 baby an* gin it ter me. He sed he hed a long walk 
 afore him, an' kinder asked me ef I wouldn't brung it 
 round. I told him I would, an', hang me, ef it ain't 
 here," and Jack placed the box in the little " kid's" 
 hands, and then deliberately walked out of the 
 cabin. 
 
 Most of the crowd followed him, but one or two, 
 anxious to see what the little " kid" would do, peeped 
 in at the window. 
 
 The little one opened the box with wondering eyes, 
 which grew wider at the sight of the doll. 
 
 As a woman takes her baby to her breast, so the lit 
 tle " kid" gathered the toy in her arms, and hugged 
 it as she rocked back and forth in her chair. 
 
 At last she looked up and saw on the shelf over the 
 bed the mutilated face of the other dolly looking 
 sorrowfully upon her. She laid the larger doll on the 
 floor while she climbed on the bed and took the smaller 
 one from its place. When she sat down again, she 
 held both of them. 
 
 Just after dark, Jack came in again, pretending that 
 he wished to see Smith about an axe. 
 
 The little girl sat with tears in her eyes, looking 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING^-COONEY CAMP. 143 
 
 wistfully at the new dolly perched upon the wall above 
 the looking-glass. 
 
 The '" belle" noticed Jack's look of wonder, and 
 made haste to explain. 
 
 ' Ye see, I kinder thought the little gal might sile 
 the doll's dress, an' then it looked kinder pert on the 
 wall, so I thought I'd stick it up there, an' let her set 
 an' look at it." 
 
 For a moment J ack was speechless with anger. Then 
 he took down the doll and gave it to the little girl. 
 
 Then, actually shaking his fist in the face of the old 
 lady, he fairly roared with more force than elegance : 
 14 Ef yer stick thet doll-baby up thar agin, I'll wring 
 yer neck !" 
 
 The doll never went to the wall again. 
 
 When the child went to bed that night she took her 
 dolly with her. Just as the little eyes were closing in 
 sleep, she murmured half to herself, " Dod bess 
 Santy Caus for sendin' my dolly." 
 
 And Santa Claus will be blessed. 
 
 I wish I could close this story by telling how this 
 little incident started a permanent reform in camp. 
 Most stories end in this way, but mine cannot. 
 
 Jack and Bill and Tom and all the rest went back to 
 their old ways. They drank and swore and fought as 
 hard as ever, and yet I cannot help thinking that they 
 were all made better and purer in some way by that 
 little girl's prayer and its answer. 
 
 The oftener the tender, diviner chords of our being 
 are touched, the more easily will they stir in sympathy 
 for others. 
 
 The little " kid" will not forget that Christmas eve, 
 nor the present Santa Claus sent by Jack. 
 
144 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Ah ! if we only knew the pleasure and comfort we 
 might give by a single kind word or look or generous 
 act ! If we only knew of the thousands of human be 
 ings who only need the kindly and gentle impulse to 
 lead them to purer and better lives, we might still act 
 a Santa Claus, and make life one perpetual Christmas, 
 more merry even than the celebration at Cooney 
 Camp. 
 
 But we cannot, for our eyes are blinded. 
 
 Everybody thanked George Hackmatack when he 
 was done. 
 
 Every one felt how exactly the story belonged to 
 their party, blocked in as they were. 
 
 Old lumbermen were there, on their way down from 
 the Rockies. They saw how true the little story is to 
 man and to nature. 
 
 And I dare not say how many of the women were 
 crying. 
 
 Mr. Van Sandfoord gave time enough for talk, for 
 questions and for sympathy, and then pretended to 
 consult the great placard of the programme, of which 
 the first sheet was pinned beside him, big enough for 
 those that ran to read. 
 
 " Mrs. Frechette will favor us with a ballad." 
 
 The little woman did not flinch an instant. 
 
 "The committee had no right to ask me for an 
 original ballad," said she. " I never write ballads, 
 and Tom does not. But I will sing an old Yankee 
 ballad, which I learned on Thanksgiving day from a 
 real Mayflower girl. She says the people in Plymouth 
 County I think that is the place knew what the 
 time was some two hundred years ago or less. You 
 must all join in the chorus." 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING A BALLAD. 145 
 
 And with great spirit she sang : 
 
 " 'Twas up to Uncle Tracy's, 
 
 The fifth of November, 
 Last Thanksgiving night, 
 
 As I very well remember : 
 And there we had a frolic, 
 
 A frolic, indeed, 
 And drank several glasses 
 
 Of good anise-seed. 
 
 " And there was Parson Holmes, 
 
 And there was Perez Drew, 
 And there was Seth Gilbert, 
 
 And Seth Thomas, too ; 
 And there were too many, 
 
 Too many for to name, 
 And by and by I'll tell you how 
 
 We carried on the game. 
 
 4 We carried on the game 
 
 Till 'twas late in the night 
 There was one pretty girl 
 
 And she lost her eye-sight. 
 No wonder no wonder 
 
 No wonder, indeed, 
 For she drank three full glasses 
 
 Of good anise-seed." 
 
 She sang the quaint old air so merrily and she 
 commanded the rest so instinctively that they caught 
 it quickly, and sang the last half of each verse with 
 her. 
 
 Amid general laughing she turned to Mr. Decker, 
 and said : 
 
 ' That is the way your Yankee ancestors kept 
 Thanksgiving, Mr. Decker, before Nahum Barrow's 
 
146 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 time. I do not know what anise-seed is. It shov/t 
 how things are improved, that I do not." 
 
 And so they hummed the air, and taught each other 
 the words, till Hector, in his stentorian way, shouted : 
 "Number three." 
 
 AN ORATION BY MR. MENET. 
 
 11 1 am a wretched public speaker," said Mr. Menet, 
 " when my wife is not by me to prompt me. So soon 
 as I saw the programme I was frightened, and have 
 been ever since. I once delivered a Fourth-of-July 
 oration in Spanish to my workmen. But last night I 
 found, first, that I could not alter the allusions to inde 
 pendence in time, and, next, that I had forgotten the 
 oration. So I throw myself on your mercy, and ask 
 leave to tell a story." 
 
 They all cried, " Story ! story ! story !" 
 
 "Well," said Menet, laughing, "next I thought 
 to tell really a curious story of something which 
 happened at a Christmas dinner I was at in Paris." 
 
 Here all four of the palace ladies showed danger sig 
 nals ; for they all blushed scarlet, conscious that they 
 knew that story well. But Menet did not notice, and 
 went on. 
 
 " But that is really rather too personal. And so I 
 have been mean enough to go forward to the news 
 boy's box. I gave him a bit of money, and he let me 
 dig there. I mention this because I scorn to lie, and 
 I have pre-empted that box, and no one else is to 
 burrow there. I shall have the pleasure to read you a 
 story called "Christmas at Valley Forge, " which I 
 found in his box, and I venture to say to Mr. Decker 
 that the hero is not my grandfather. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNINGVALLEY FORGE. 14? 
 
 So Mr. Menet read, and read very well, from an old 
 Frank Leslie, the story of 
 
 CHRISTMAS AT VALLEY FORGE. 
 
 THANKSGIVING DAY. 
 
 'There," said Elam Ford, swinging himself down 
 from a heavy wooden table on which he had been 
 standing, " I'll stump all the dogs in the haven to 
 push her open now !" and the squad of lazy soldiers 
 around him rang applause and approval of the success 
 of an enterprise for which none but Elam had the 
 spirit. 
 
 " Elam means to have one hull turkey for himself, 
 and he's afraid the dogs will get part of his share." 
 
 " Or the cats !" growled another of the squad, and 
 a general laugh saluted the jest, which contained an 
 allusion to some wretched mess anecdote. 
 
 Nobody laughs so easily as boys or girls off duty. 
 
 " Well," said Elam, " I said last night, I did, ses I, 
 when old spitfire there came sneaking up from the 
 cellar, and poked his nose in, and then came in him 
 self, I says, says I, I did, I'll be darned if I don't get 
 the trunnion of the gun we bust, and hang it fur a 
 weight to that 'ere door, and I'll be darned if I lie here 
 all night and have dogs and cats and weasels and 
 kittens and puppies smellin' over my bunk, cos Enos 
 or Jotham or Micah or any of you fellers was so stupid 
 you could not latch the cellar-door. I said I would, 
 and I've gone and done it." 
 
 And with one last loving touch he tested his handi 
 work. 
 
 He swung the door open, and the pulley weight of the 
 heavy trunnion banged it to with a force that shook the 
 whole cabin from ground-sill to roof-tree. 
 
148 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 It was a wretched hole at the best. It was a log 
 cabin, which this squad of men had built for them 
 selves as the winter came on. 
 
 The English army, under Howe, was taking its ease 
 in Philadelphia ; and Washington on the Wissahickon 
 Creek and the Schuylkill River was watching them, 
 and occasionally making a stroke at a foraging party. 
 
 The particular party with which we are concerned 
 had been sent up to inspect a ford of the larger river, 
 and, eventually, to throw up a redoubt which should 
 command it. 
 
 They had made themselves as comfortable as they 
 could by building this cabin for their quarters. 
 
 In the hole below, dignified by the name of ' ' cellar, ' ' 
 or " suller, "as the reader chooses to take the English 
 or the Yankee pronunciation, they had such stores of 
 potatoes, of cabbages, and of salt pork as the 
 commissariat or their own vigorous foraging provided. 
 
 Bunks, in which they slept, were arranged around 
 the walls ; a fixed table with benches on each side 
 occupied the middle of the cabin, and a fire, which 
 would have served Cyclops, blazed at one end. 
 
 ' We can't do nothin' more about dinner," said 
 Elam, who was evidently the most energetic person in 
 the party, " till Siah's off and Michael." 
 
 And after looking out at the open door, he turned 
 back a little dissatisfied. 
 
 44 In theyre, pinkin' and foolin', 'n powderin' their 
 hair, most likely, for the general's party, and the 
 womenfolks there. There's that poor mare looks 'zif 
 she'd freeze, while Michael's puttin' more pomatum on 
 his queue." 
 
 Another general guffaw saluted this irreverent allu 
 sion to an officer. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNINti VALLEY FORGE. 149 
 
 For " Josiah" and " Michael," as Elam called them, 
 were the captain and lieutenant in command of the 
 outpost. 
 
 They were old companions in school and in play of 
 the men whom they were supposed to command. 
 
 It was by a severe strain that the traditional 
 decencies of English and German armies had been so 
 far preserved that they had a different cabin from 
 those occupied by the men. 
 
 It was with the greatest difficulty that the men were 
 held to any tokens of outward respect on drill or 
 parade. 
 
 When the boys were by themselves the officers were 
 plain " Michael " and " Josiah" again. 
 
 To-day the officers were going to eat their Thanks 
 giving dinner with General Knox at his headquarters, 
 and at this moment the mice were waiting for the 
 cats to go away, that their own Thanksgiving might 
 begin. 
 
 The Thanksgiving day was, in fact, appointed a week 
 later than that. 
 
 They had not to wait long. , 
 
 In a few minutes the jingle of sleigh bells told that 
 the toilets of the officers were completed, and in a 
 moment more Captain Josiah Marvin knocked, and, 
 without waiting an answer, came in on the men. 
 
 The tokens of respect which met him were of the 
 slightest. 
 
 But such tokens there were. 
 
 ' Well, boys," he said, "it's a spare Thanksgiving 
 any of us will have at best ; but I've brought you over 
 all the rum we have left, and if you take' it all it will 
 not hurt you you're welcome. You go,t the big 
 rooster ? I wish there were anything else. But you 
 
150 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 must make the junk do for filling. You Cape Codders, 
 I suppose, like a cape turkey best. A pleasant night 
 to you all. You know Silas is on duty. Don't make 
 them wait for the relief ; but I shall be back before 
 then. Good-night to you." 
 
 "Good-night, good-night, sir." And the captain 
 joined his companions, and was off. 
 
 No sooner had the door closed than Elam swung 
 back his cellar-door and vanished, only to reappear 
 with both hands full, and a very droll imitation of the 
 captain's manner. 
 
 4 Wai, boys, it's a spare Thanksgiving any of us 
 will have, at best," he said. " But I've brought you 
 this old gobbler, and these three little biddies, and 
 this here goose, and a pair of ducks, that was all strut 
 ting and parading last evenin' down to the old Dutch 
 man's at the crossing. The Dutchman did not know 
 it was Thanksgiving day, so he did not know what 
 they was good for. But I know'd mighty well, only I 
 thort I'd let him keep 'em for us till we was ready. 
 Now, here's my ramrod, and that goes through 
 gobblers and quack-quacks. Who gives his ramrod 
 for little quack here? not so little either, and for 
 young cut-cut ke dar cut ?" 
 
 There was no lack of ramrods, nor of cooks to tend 
 the roast. 
 
 By preconcerted invitation, the men from the 
 captain's quarters and those from another cabin in the 
 hollow soon joined. And what with the captain's 
 rum and old Freinhardt's poultry, the revel of the 
 Thanksgiving evening went forward with as much 
 plenty, if not as much elegance, as would have been 
 found that night in any household in New England. 
 
 " Half an hour yet before the relief," cried Mr. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING-VALLEY FORGE. il 
 
 Micah Stearns. ' There'll be no need of turning out 
 till then. Gin us another song, Dot." 
 
 And Dot wet his whistle for the tenth time, and 
 sang a camp ballad. 
 
 A heavy knock at the door broke in on the closing 
 words of the song, and again Captain Marvin threw 
 it open. 
 
 ' That's right, boys ; make a jolly time of it. I 
 looked in to see if you were all ready for the relief. 
 But I see nobody's asleep here." 
 
 And he did his best not to see the carcasses of the 
 turkey, the ducks, and the chickens, which lay in 
 horrible disorder on the table. 
 
 Elam, with a, wholly unnatural effort at military 
 etiquette, sprang to his feet, and saluted. " All right, 
 captain. I command the relief myself, and I'm sober 
 sober sober, captain, as the clock." 
 
 " I see you are," said the captain, laughing, and 
 turning away as quickly as he could from the scene he 
 was sorry he had looked in upon. 
 
 " Lights and fires must be out after the relief 
 marches, boys. Parade at sunrise, you know," and 
 he was gone. 
 
 Alas ! the provant was all gone, too ; the result of 
 Elam's injudicious foraging. The last drop of rum 
 had gone to wet Micah Steam's whistle, and the com 
 pany were fain to break up, when a bugle from below 
 announced that the officer on duty expected the 
 relief. 
 
 The men put on such apologies for overcoats as they 
 had. 
 
 The guests of the cabin bade good-night. 
 
 Elam gave the word, " Forward, march," and the 
 Thanksgiving revel was ended. 
 
152 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 RECOMPENSE. A 
 
 The morning parade of the company was steady 
 enough. It was not till Saturday morning that com 
 pensation came. We are never so stiff the day after a 
 rough ride as we are on the second day. 
 
 On Saturday morning every man who could be spared 
 from the little outpost was marched a mile and a half 
 or more to brigade headquarters. Nobody knew why. 
 The men, as they marched, even guessed that some 
 sudden dash at one of Howe's outposts might be 
 proposed. But nobody could guess why the regular 
 arrangements for the reliefs and duty en the picket- 
 lines were broken up. Broken up they were ; and, if 
 anybody had noticed, the whole party of Thanksgiv 
 ing revellers were present at the parade. 
 
 The parade went off sufficiently well, though some 
 people's hands were cold with handling musket-butts 
 in the frosty air. But, after the parade, the men 
 were held while a brigade general order was read. 
 The major-general commanding that division had 
 been appealed to by old Freinhardt, whose poultry- 
 yard had been stripped. It was at the very moment 
 when they were deciding at headquarters whether the 
 whole army should not be brought up for the winter 
 to Valley Forge. It was particularly desirable, there 
 fore, that the few farmers in that region should be 
 conciliated. And so it was that one example of great 
 severity had to be made, of the frolic which might have 
 been winked at otherwise, of Elam Ford and the other 
 boys. Much of this was set forth in the rather 
 cumbrous general order, which ended by ordering six 
 of those soldiers under arrest for a week, and by direct 
 ing that Sergeant Ford should be reduced to the ranks, 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNINGVALLEY FORGE. 153 
 
 and be kept under arrest for a month at that. The 
 order went so far as to say that but for this act of dis 
 obedience he would have been promoted to a lieuten 
 ancy on the first of the year. Now, a lieutenancy was 
 exactly what Elam had been looking forward to, with 
 good reason, ever since they had crossed the North 
 River. 
 
 The rage of the whole company knew no bounds. 
 Marvin and Guthrie, who were both very fond of 
 Elam, were as sorry as anybody could be, and had 
 been at work, if he had but known it, all the day be 
 fore, pleading with the colonel, and been doing their 
 best with General Glover at brigade headquarters. 
 But nothing would do. The Dutchman must be con 
 ciliated. The whole army was probably to move at once 
 up the river and take post at Valley Forge, and there 
 must be an example made, and poor Elam was the 
 example. Sour and cross, the company marched 
 back to its quarters, the men under arrest following 
 behind. Sour and cross they spent the days, not to 
 say weeks, that followed. When the whole army 
 marched across to join them, from the Wissahickon 
 and up from below, that changed the external of things 
 a little. But what are the externals ? At heart, every 
 man, whether under arrest or no, was enraged. All 
 the revellers were as guilty as Elam, and those not 
 punished used to go to the captain and lieutenant, 
 Marvin and Guthrie, and say so, with a freedom 
 which in any other service would have been severely 
 punished, but which in the democratic New England 
 regiments of those days was universal. Yet Marvin 
 and Guthrie could not even whisper that the punish 
 ment had been inflicted in face of their eager protest. 
 The tie which held privates with the army was none 
 
154 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE, 
 
 too strong at best, and it was not for them to loosen 
 the cords of discipline. 
 
 Readers must not suppose that these men who were 
 under arrest were chained, like Baron Trenck, by wrists 
 and ankles, to blocks of stone in underground 
 dungeons. The resources of Valley Forge were not 
 equal to such confinement, had there been cruelty 
 enough to desire it, as there was not. It was 
 expected that they would report at the guard-house 
 several times in a day. It was also understood that 
 they would not appear at guard-mountings and parade. 
 But not a man of them even affected to be pleased at 
 this relaxation from duty. They were disgraced before 
 the brigade, and it was a disgrace they did not deserve, 
 they said. As for military duty, that was what they 
 had come for, and they thought it no hardship. In 
 deed, with the scanty resources of their outpost, the 
 poor occupation of drill and guard-mounting was more 
 a pleasure than toil. 
 
 They hung about grumbling. Elam's punishment 
 lasted three weeks longer than the others. For a 
 month he had nothing to do. To pass away the time, 
 he amused himself with old Freinhardt's children, not 
 because they were his enemy's children, but because 
 they were somebody's children. Not one of Frein- 
 hardt's family could speak a word of English, and Elam 
 did not know that he could speak a word of German. 
 But he soon found out that " come here," with a red 
 apple presented by the speaker, meant much the same 
 to a little German tot, as if he had said " komm hier," 
 and he and the army of children became good friends. 
 The heavy teams and the artillery sleds hauling stones 
 up from the Schuylkill had made a very tempting 
 coast, and the bigger boys had availed themselves of 
 
CHRTSTMAS MOR\ r TNG VALLEY FORGE. 155 
 
 the facilities thus given to make a crowd of what the 
 Canadians call " toboggins," and of little " jumpers," 
 to borrow a Virginian phrase. But Elam and Micah 
 astonished them by a Yankee combination of two very 
 large sleds, in the genuine pattern of the largest of 
 " double-runners" of the New England hills. And 
 when a party of twenty were piled upon this craft, and 
 it shot down near half a mile upon the frozen river, 
 even grumpy old Freinhardt himself would take out 
 his eternal pipe long enough to express his approbation. 
 There was not a woman in his household who did not, 
 sooner or later, take a ride down the hill on the " John 
 Hancock," as the rude vehicle was called. And 
 Gottfried, the big boy, whom Elam secretly meant to 
 enlist into his company in the spring, was soon as skil 
 ful as Elam himself in the mysteries of steering. For 
 other amusement, Elam had skating, in which he was 
 an adept, from old Merrimac experience, and Gottfried 
 stealthily purveyed a pair of Dutch skates from the 
 garret of Freinhardt's house to the soldier's cabin 
 for Elam's personal use. Little did the " old Dutch 
 man," as he was always called, though he never was in 
 Holland little did he suppose that his arch-enemy was 
 gliding on his own fleet irons, when he had to grumble 
 out his confession that the Yankee's skates seemed to 
 answer as well as if they had been made in Amsterdam. 
 None the less, in all these sports was Elam disgusted ; 
 a little disgusted with himself, perhaps, but thoroughly 
 enraged with his colonel and with the brigadier. Such 
 was his condition at bottom. Superficially, at top, his 
 rage was that he should be " fooling away his time." 
 For to the genuine Yankee, eager of purpose, and 
 with a quite definite conviction that Almighty God has 
 left to him, personally, the greater share of the 
 
156 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 direction of the world, mere recreation, after the third 
 day, always becomes an insufferable bore. He despises 
 any person whom he sees engaging in it. He de 
 spises himself equally, if circumstances have forced him 
 into it. 
 
 Meanwhile the entire neighborhood of Valley Forge 
 had assumed unwonted activity. The whole army 
 under Washington had been ordered thither, to hold a 
 position where General Howe, the English commander, 
 could be watched through the winter. Axes were served 
 out, and heavy timber, as the men were to build cabins 
 for themselves. The cabin which Elam's men had 
 built some weeks before, when they were first bidden 
 to hold this bridge over the Schuylkill, became a pattern 
 much studied and much admired. Wood there was in 
 plenty, for the hills were covered with it. But there 
 was little plenty of anything else. Still the army was 
 in good spirits, and did not yet know what was before 
 it, as that weary winter should pass by. The regiment 
 to which Marvin's company belonged was already so 
 well hutted, that no great change was made in .their 
 quarters, and Elam and his companions were free to 
 give such counsel and assistance as they might to work 
 ing parties who had not had their experience. 
 
 SURPRISE. 
 
 So matters ground along for the first few weeks of poor 
 Elam Ford's disgrace. The other privates tried to be 
 specially kind to him, but their clumsy efforts seemed 
 only to remind him of his misfortune. His superior 
 officers in the immediate command, Marvin and Guthrie, 
 also tried to be kind to him, but their kindness he 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING-^-V ALLEY FORGE. 157 
 
 could and would resent almost as an insult. Not that he 
 once suspected Captain Marvin as having " peached" 
 upon him. He knew perfectly well that it was by 
 other testimony that he had been convicted at brigade 
 headquarters of the onslaught on the Dutchman's hen- 
 yard. But he was angry that these men, who were of 
 his own time, old schoolmates and allies, had not used 
 their influence to save him. For little did he know 
 that they had both strained their means of grace to the 
 very utmost. 
 
 At last the month of " arrest" was nearly over. But 
 the last days were, perhaps, the worst of all. Every 
 cabin near him was finished, and he had no excuse for 
 lending a hand among working parties. The very 
 worst day came when Marvin and Guthrie again ordered 
 round the sleigh, which was the only vehicle for the 
 use of the whole post, and with the poor old mare that 
 had taken them to Thanksgiving at General Glover's, 
 drove off to a grand Christmas dinner, which was 
 given by Smallwood, of the Maryland line. Elam was 
 quite alone as he saw them go. All of his messmates 
 were on picket duty that day. He would have been 
 were it not for his cursed arrest. He crawled up into 
 his bunk, pulled over him the wretched blanket which 
 was his only night covering, turned his face from the 
 light, and did his best to sleep. 
 
 He had not lain there five minutes before the door 
 of the cabin was flung open, and, to Elam's surprise, a 
 crowd of men thronged in, voluble with oaths and 
 ejaculations. But an instant taught him. As he 
 lay he could see that these were a squad of English 
 dragoons, who had stealthily crossed the little patch 
 from the woods behind, where they had been waiting 
 till the detail of Americans should move down the hill, 
 
158 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. ' 
 
 and now, so soon as their backs were turned, had taken 
 possession of the cabin. 
 
 " All gone !" said the officer in command, with more 
 oaths than need be repeated here. " So much the 
 better. Every shot saved is so much time gained. A 
 good fire they have left us, no thanks to them. 
 William, take the boys down the hill. Ferguson 
 will stop every blackguard in the other barrack here ; 
 do you join his men at the fork ; wait for the party 
 of the Queen's at the barn in the hollow, and I will 
 find you there. I'll just warm my fingers here, and 
 make sure about the lane road." 
 
 As he spoke he drew a bit of tracing paper from his 
 pocket, opened it upon the table, and began to study 
 the map upon it, as he clapped his cold hands together. 
 The subaltern touched his hat, and withdrew the men. 
 
 The orders given were enough to show to Elam in an 
 instant what was the design ; and a design wonderfully 
 well laid it was. Relying on the Christmas festivities 
 of the Pennsylvania brigades, as confidently as Wash 
 ington, a year before, had relied on those of the 
 Hessians, the English colonel who had, by a bold push, 
 ridden round the American army with two companies 
 of dragoons, had broken them into small squads, who 
 had worked their way through the woods, and were 
 now on the eve of re-union quite inside the only picket 
 lines held by Americans on that side of Valley Forge 
 which was most distant from Philadelphia. Had the 
 roads been hard, a ten minutes' gallop would take them 
 to the very house where thirty of the most distinguished 
 officers of Washington's right wing were dining. As 
 it was, they were expecting to arrive there just after 
 dark, and in the confusion of such an onslaught they 
 would have a good chance to make prizes. All this 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING VALLEY FORGE, 159 
 
 . 
 
 passed through Elam Ford's mind in an instant. He 
 sickened as he thought of the treachery which had 
 taught them where to strike the blow. He did not 
 dare to move lest he should lose every chance of ren 
 dering service. Yet he should die, he knew, if he did 
 nothing. 
 
 From this distress, however, a single minute relieved 
 him. The English captain, perfectly unconscious, in 
 the darkness of the cabin, that he was not alone, turned 
 to the fire to warm his hands over the embers, and, lift 
 ing a heavy log, flung it across the bricks which served 
 for andirons. Availing himself of the noise and the 
 movement of the other, Elam turned instantly on his 
 elbow, saw the situation at once, sprang from the bunk 
 upon his feet behind the other, and, taking him wholly 
 unawares, pushed him down, as he bent over, into the 
 very fireplace which he was feeding. Then, without 
 pausing a moment, Elam drew open the cellar-door, 
 sprang down the rough steps into the darkness, gave 
 one wrench at this ladder, enough to loosen it and 
 throw it upon the ground, and then pushed open a 
 bulkhead at a passage where they were used to haul 
 in such stores as were kept there. He could hear the 
 oaths and cries of the officer above him, and he knew 
 that at best his time was very short. He was even 
 glad to see no movement at the other cabin and to 
 hear no sound from below, although these were indi 
 cations that the raiding party was already some 
 minutes on its way toward the quarry. 
 
 He was closely pursued, as he knew that he should 
 be, but, fortunately for him, the pursuit was arrested as 
 suddenly as it began. The English captain recovered 
 himself from the fall, not without scorchings and 
 burnings, which at another time he would have thought 
 
160 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 horrible, but which at this instant did not hinder him 
 for a moment. The bang of Elam's door had taught 
 him, only too well, the way of his escape, and it re 
 quired but a minute to find, in the gathering darkness, 
 the trick of opening it. He swung it back, and boldly 
 sprang down as the other had done, but to a longer 
 leap. He fell, badly bruised, upon the rough step-lad 
 der, and as he tried to extricate himself found his hands 
 and arms fettered by the accident that his dragoon's 
 cloak, trailing behind him, had caught upon something 
 in the floor above, and was already firmly secured in 
 the heavy swing of Elam's door. At first the poor 
 captain had a feeling that above and below some bear 
 or panther had pounced upon him, for the English army 
 was full of imagined terrors of the wilderness ; and in 
 a dark hole like this, alone on a winter's night, even a 
 man of his experience recurred to the stories which 
 told of them. But in an instant more he made sure that 
 nobody was pinioning him but himself. He did not, 
 however, so quickly find how he was to be unpinioned. 
 His left arm, which lay under him, refused so stubborn 
 ly to come to the rescue, that he was afraid it was broken. 
 His right arm was all twisted out of its place by the 
 tight strain of the cloak upon it, and when he brought 
 round the burnt fingers to the clasp which bound this 
 at the throat, it seemed only too clear that this was in 
 one of those tangles which even the saints call " infer 
 nal," and which no power which those poor blistered 
 fingers could bring upon it could make it yield. 
 
 With every effort which he made to rise upon his knees, 
 the steps of the ladder under him seemed to trip and 
 tumble him over, and every such effort taught him that 
 his left arm was broken or dislocated at the shoulder. 
 Once and again, indeed, in such efforts he thought he 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING VALLEY FORGE. 161 
 
 should be choked by the bearing of the throat-latch, 
 which would not be undone. He was in utter dark 
 ness, because Elam had closed the opening through 
 which he had rushed into the open air. It was thus 
 that the unfortunate officer lost the precious minutes 
 in which alone his pursuit of Elam would have been 
 effected. 
 
 These minutes, indeed, were very few. Before two 
 minutes were past Elam Ford was half a mile away, 
 safe on the firm ice of the Schuylkill. If, as he left the 
 cabin, he had the slightest doubt as to his course, that 
 doubt was solved for him as, with his first glance around, 
 he saw the bulky form of the " John Hancock" by the 
 roadway, where Gottfried and the others had left her 
 when summoned home by the horn which called them 
 to their Christmas dinner. Had Pegasus, full-winged, 
 stood before him or a champing war horse pawed to 
 do him service, Elam would not have been so well 
 pleased. For, indeed, here was a charger whose paces 
 he understood better than those of hippogriff or 
 destrier. In half a minute he had drawn the " John 
 Hancock" to the brow of the hill. Less than half a 
 minute was enough to roll and throw upon the hinder 
 sled a heavy log which the men had hauled thus far 
 to cut and split for firing. Then Elam started the 
 huge machine, ran an instant by its side, flung himself 
 upon the foremost sled with the two steering spikes 
 which had lain upon it, and with a speed such as race 
 horse never rivalled dashed down the icy hill. 
 
 Colonel Bedford's line of mounted pickets had been 
 thrown out with true military precision, to make sure 
 that no straggler of the rebels carried any news of the 
 English advance down his well-worn way. In that 
 line of pickets was a Yorkshireman, as near-sighted 
 
1 62 - OUR CHRISTMAS I IV A PALACE. 
 
 as the average Yorkshireman, and not badly mount 
 ed. He sat upon his horse, wondering how long it 
 might be before the main party should return, and 
 with sufficient care watching the roadway in the 
 gathering twilight. 
 
 The sun was already down. But what care could 
 arrest the flight or the headlong charge of the well- 
 directed " John Hancock" ? Nay, what horse of the 
 best training would stand without flinching the sight 
 of such an apparition ? As Elam dashed by on his 
 lightning track, the trooper's horse shied wildly, and, 
 although the man fired his pistol, he fired it at 
 nothing, and the only effect of the discharge was to 
 startle the American pickets, unconscious till this 
 moment that they had been wholly outflanked, and 
 that an enemy was inside their lines. 
 
 Elam Ford rushed on, on his unobstructed way. 
 From the crest where he started to the smooth ice 
 of the river is, perhaps, half a mile. And for such a 
 vehicle, well steered, thirty seconds was enough for the 
 descent. Plunging upon the glaring ice, Elam threw 
 his whole weight upon the steering pike, which he 
 drove into the smooth surface on his larboard side. 
 The huge sledge obeyed its helm, and after one critical 
 moment, when it seemed tottering as if to turn over, 
 it dashed down the river. It shot forward nearly half 
 a mile more, before it lost the impetus of the hill. So 
 soon as the motion slackened, Elam drew himself up, 
 loosened from one of the posts of the sledge a pair of 
 skates which hung there, and before the " John 
 Hancock" had well stopped, he had strapped them 
 upon his feet and was ready for his further journey. 
 
 Just as he stood on the ice against the white slope 
 of the hill, he saw another moving figure coming fear- 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING^ VALLEY FORGE. 163 
 
 lessly toward him. Elam could not avoid him if he 
 would, and in an instant was glad he had made no 
 effort to, when he recognized the friendly voice of 
 Gottfried. " I shouldn't been more tickled," said 
 Elam afterward, " had it been an angel from heaven." 
 To send Gottfried to the guard-house above, and warn 
 Lieutenant Faunce of the enemy's position, while he 
 himself carried the alarm to the Christmas party of 
 officers below if yet there was time this was his 
 effort. But how to send a messenger who does not 
 speak one's language. Elam seized that intuition of 
 speaking loudly and slowly, which has served so many 
 wayfaring men, though fools, since the Tower of Babel. 
 He pointed to the block-house, which was full insight, 
 though near a mile up the river, and cried : " Faunce, 
 Faunce !" ' Ja wohl, ja wohl," cried the willing 
 Gottfried. "Faunce, Faunce, a hundred troopers!" 
 screamed poor Elam so loudly that even Faunce him 
 self could have heard had he been listening. " Ja wohl, 
 ja wohl," said Gottfried again. " Hundert trupper, 
 hundert trupper, ich verstehe." " Smatlwood," 
 screamed Elam, pointing now down the river. ' Ja 
 wohl, Smallwood," said the other, to whom that 
 general's name and person were perfectly well known, 
 and had Elam written him a despatch of forty folios he 
 would not have understood better than he did that a 
 force of a hundred cavalrymen were threatening Small- 
 wood, and that he was to carry that news to Faunce's 
 little outpost. He dashed up the river faster than a 
 bird. Never had he skated on such an errand or with 
 such a motive. The little mile between him and the 
 outpost was nothing. In as little time as it takes to 
 describe it, he had passed over the distance on the river, 
 and, as he clambered up the low bank, was within call 
 
1 64 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 of Faunce's puzzled men. The bugler had already 
 given the alarm. The pickets were falling in from 
 every side, leaving only a line of observation. 
 Lieutenant Faunce himself, perplexed, ran down the 
 bank to receive Gottfried's message. The boy was too 
 well known in the whole company to be doubted. 
 There were men who well understood him when he 
 spoke in his own language, and his perfectly coherent 
 story was enough to induce the lieutenant to lead the 
 greater part of his detachment, by the quickest pace 
 possible, through the heavy snow by the river road 
 iirect to the Forge in the valley. 
 
 A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the little central village of the 
 improvised town, General Smallwood had collected his 
 Christmas party. It was made up on no principle of 
 rank ; but, by his inviting gentlemen whom he had 
 met in the severe service in the last year, whatever 
 the State Line to which they belonged, Smallwood 
 pleased himself with the thought that he was thus 
 bringing together officers from all parts of the country. 
 Marvin had been his especial favorite since he covered 
 the rear in the sharp skirmish in Greenwood the day 
 of the fatal battle of Brooklyn. And Smallwood was 
 never more pleased though he was certainly surprised 
 than when the young New Englander told him, as 
 he entered the room, that this was the first Christ 
 mas dinner he had ever eaten with the recollection 
 that it was Christmas day. 
 
 General Smallwood's satisfaction was complete when, 
 just as they were to sit down, one of his aides came 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING VALLEY FORGE. 165 
 
 clattering up to the door with a message from the 
 " marquis, " as Lafayette was everywhere called, to say 
 that he was unexpectedly at liberty, and would accept 
 General Smallwood's invitation, which he had before 
 declined. The table, served for thirty in the long log 
 cabin, which had been run out behind the inn to serve 
 as a dining-room, was readily arranged for the distin- 
 gushed guest and De Kalb whom he had brought with 
 him. The varied uniforms of the different State 
 " Lines" had not yet all given way to the blue and 
 buff. Blue, white, and green varied the long line of 
 the table ; and even the red coat, which was in gen 
 eral the sign of an enemy, appeared in two instances as 
 the uniform of Morgan's horse. Never had a more 
 distinguished party gathered under the newly-baptized 
 American flag. 
 
 Marvin winced a little as Smallwood turned to him, 
 as soon as he began to carve a twenty-pound turkey. 
 " Marvin," said he, " we have not let Glover's line eat 
 all the gobblers for their Thanksgiving. We have a few 
 more left in the plantations, and they do say there are 
 some of the blue hen's chickens at the other end of the 
 table." 
 
 The Thanksgiving order of the day at Glover's 
 brigade had become camp talk. 
 
 " I am afraid," said Marvin, "that the Maryland 
 turkeys are better than those they bring us from Cape 
 Cod." 
 
 The answer pleased the Marylander, who explained 
 to Lafayette, who sat at his right, that his wife had 
 sent a special express to camp, which had arrived only 
 the night before, to supply the stores for the full feast 
 which was before them. But it was impossible for the 
 genial Marylander to understand the feeling closer 
 
166 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 than feudal feeling which bound the New England 
 captain to his privates. And little did he think that 
 in his joke he had renewed the only bitter sting which 
 that day could have for the brave young officer of 
 whom he was so fond. 
 
 This little story must not stop to tell of the gay talk 
 of that gay dinner. Lafayette told bright stories of 
 London life, even of the very men who were in front 
 of them in Philadelphia. He spoke grammatical 
 English with a fascinating French accent and an 
 occasional blunder in idiom which gave a zest to his 
 slow narration, whose enforced delay contrasted oddly 
 with the eagerness of the flow of his thought. Even 
 De Kalb told stories from the French mess-rooms. 
 The Southern gentlemen had negro stories, Indian 
 stories, and no end of rallying of the New Englanders 
 who knew so little of Christmas. 
 
 The New Englanders were not behind in pity for 
 men who had never heard of Thanksgiving. Everybody 
 who had been within a hundred miles of Trenton and 
 the crash on Rahl the year before, fought that battle 
 over again, and gayer and gayer sounded the talk and 
 brighter and more joyous was the song in German, in 
 French, and in English, as the afternoon passed, and 
 the sun went down. 
 
 Lafayette had just begun singing, to the amusement 
 of everybody, some new French words to the air of 
 " Mir onion, mironton, mirontaine," when, at a word frorr 
 Smallwood, a white-haired old negro the same who 
 had conveyed the poultry from his plantation entered 
 at the head of a black procession, who bore three 
 extemporized chandeliers made from barrel-hoops 
 wreathed in evergreen and tallow-dips already 
 lighted. 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING VALLEY FORGE. 167 
 
 "Yes, Zeno, you may stand on the table," said 
 Smallwood, laughing. And the old man mounted with 
 dignity, and hung his elegant circle of light upon a hook 
 in the rafter already provided. He took a second hoop 
 from the man behind him, and the gentlemen were 
 fairly clapping him, in laughing praise of his dexterity, 
 when the farther door of the dining-room was flung 
 open, and at the same moment a bugle outside sounded 
 ' To horse," in a strain which every man there under 
 stood perfectly. 
 
 Elam Ford sprang in at the open door. He was, of 
 course, instantly recognized by Marvin and Guthrie. 
 " Belford's horse a party of two companies on the 
 river road !" 
 
 " General," said Elam, even in that moment report 
 ing with military precision to his own brigadier-general, 
 Glover, " they have dodged our pickets. They met 
 at the hollows and are coming down the river road to 
 this place. I have heard the order." And outside, as 
 he spoke, Harry Lee's bugle-man sounded " To horse, 
 to horse, to horse !" 
 
 The gay party melted from the scene, no man knew 
 how. Every man of them, of course, was dressed 
 according to the old rule of chivalry, which required 
 that a gentleman should always be ready to mount and 
 to ride as for his life. Windows and doors flew open, 
 and in a moment more there was no man at the 
 gayly-lighted board. 
 
 Each officer was searching for a horse and on his 
 way to his command. 
 
 Light-horse Harry himself sprang on a white 
 horse he found at the door he knew not whose and 
 rode to the side of his bugler, who was till sounding 
 "To horse, to horse !" 
 
1 68 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Elam Ford, as he left the table, seized the American 
 flag which hung over the host's chair. Had Elam 
 known it, it had been embroidered in silk by Mrs. 
 Smallwood's friends on the " Eastern shore." Elam 
 thrust the steering pike, which he still held, through 
 the silken folds, and ran out to the road, which was 
 almost as light as day, from Zeno's blazing candles 
 within the open room. 
 
 " Rally on the colors !" cried Elam, lustily, " rally 
 on the colors ! Yes, boys, form by twos on the colors, 
 speaking in the language of tactics long since forgot 
 ten. " Form on the colors form on the colors for 
 God's sake form on the colors ! Where are you going, 
 Butternut? Form on the colors." 
 
 " Looking for my company," said the frightened 
 Jerseyman. 
 
 " Company, dang it ! Form on the colors or you'll 
 have no company. That's right, Shirtsleeves ; form on 
 the colors." And then, as old Zeno appeared behind 
 him, " Take these colors, darkey, and stand here till I 
 bid you move." He ran down the extemporized 
 platoon, and dressed it by pushing or pulling the men. 
 " Load while we wait," he said to them in a loud 
 tone, and then running back to the black man, 
 " Form on the colors, boys, form on the colors !" 
 
 A minute was enough to bring in thirty or more men 
 of every arm dragoons without horses, artillerymen 
 from Knox's brigade, riflemen of Morgan's, and infan 
 try from half a dozen regiments. Well pleased, Elam 
 now took the colors from Zeno, and gave them to a 
 sixfooter from the Blue Ridge, saying : 
 
 " Bid them form on the colors, and as soon as you 
 get forty men, find an officer, if you can. But, any 
 way, as soon as you have forty, follow me." 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING -VALLEY FORGE. 169 
 
 Then, running in front of his extemporized com 
 pany : 
 
 " Mark time, gentlemen ; poise firelocks, column of 
 fours forward, march quick time." 
 
 And the little company disappeared into the dark 
 ness, while the Virginian in his turn shouted : 
 
 " Form on the colors. Why don't you form on the 
 colors?" 
 
 A minute more, and Elam had his men on the run in 
 double-quick time. Just in time was he to post them 
 behind the wreck of a fence, built above some pros 
 trate logs where the old road made a sharp bend north 
 ward, and where they had thus much cover as they lay, 
 which in the darkness might deceive the advancing 
 cavalry. He was just in time. Not one minute 
 passed before the Englishmen came down the road in 
 fours. 
 
 " Hold your fire till I bid," said Elam. " Remember 
 Bunker's Hill, every baby of you. Hold your fire. I 
 tell you I was there. Butternut, Shirtsleeves, Number 
 Two, Peleg, cover your men when they pass the tree, 
 and fire when you have them. That will do." 
 
 Crack ! crack ! crack ! crack ! These were the 
 answers to the order, and the poor doomed fellows 
 rolled off their horses, every man of them. The whole 
 advancing column reined up in wild confusion. 
 
 " Storrow's company to the right ! Double-quick 
 time!" cried Elam. "Three files to the bridge! 
 Double-quick time ! Curtis, send to the general that 
 we have every man of them." 
 
 Whether these impromptu commands to imagined 
 forces were heard or not, it would be hard to say. The 
 unfortunate commander of the English party was 
 killed. His most experienced captain was at that 
 
ryo OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 moment feeling his way with a broken arm around the 
 inner walls of Elam's cellar, two miles away. The 
 other captain in the rear was giving orders, which no 
 man heard in the wild confusion. A storm of random 
 pistol shots from excited troopers confused every 
 thing, and made order impossible. All of them had 
 for five minutes heard the drums of Faunce's company 
 behind them, and from the way his boys beat them, 
 you would have thought there were forty drums. 
 They dared not, therefore, turn upon their own tracks, 
 to meet a regiment of infantry in their rear. 
 
 The rear files of the English horsemen thought, and 
 thought wisely, that discretion was the better part of 
 valor. They leaped the low fence on their right, ran 
 their horses to the river, and crossed it on the ice. A 
 moment more and the same movement became univer 
 sal. Men who thought, thought it had been ordered. 
 Men who did not think, followed because it promised 
 safety. Sooner than he meant, sooner than he wished, 
 Elam saw his enemy retiring. 
 
 " Give them a volley, boys ! Fire !" he cried, almost 
 disappointed. And the men fired, probably with no 
 effect. At that moment Light-horse Harry himself, 
 with a squadron of some thirty men, appeared. Elam 
 pointed eagerly to the flying foe. 
 
 Lee thanked him, and followed. 
 
 "Tally-ho, gentlemen!" he cried to his men, and 
 they, too, leaped the fence in pursuit. 
 
 " Well, boys," said Elam, " Guess our job's done. 
 Form on your sergeants. Column of fours. Quick- 
 time march." 
 
 At this moment Faunce and his men came up, well 
 flushed with running, and well pleased with success. 
 
CHRISTMAS MQRNftfG VALLEY FORGE. 171 
 
 They followed Elam's command. He led the whole 
 party back to General Smallwood's headquarters. He 
 met the tall Virginian with the second company. 
 
 " All out !" he called ; "all out !" in the quaint 
 phrase of the old-time fire companies. And this com 
 pany also returned to the stable-yard of the old tavern, 
 and, like Ford's men and Faunce's, stood at easy rest, 
 listening to know if there were any other alarm. 
 
 No ! the work was done, and well done. Smallwood 
 himself and the gentlemen of his staff were sitting on 
 their horses. From time to time one and another 
 orderly or mounted officer rode in, and reported that 
 all was still. A buzz and whisper, after half an hour, 
 told that young Hamilton had ridden in with a message 
 from the commander-in-chief. Smallwood himself now 
 rode across to the improvised infantry. 
 
 "Captain," he said to Elam, "his Excellency is 
 on the road, and will be here in a minute. Will you 
 call your men into line that we may salute him ?" 
 
 " Attention, company ! Right dress ! Poise fire 
 locks ! Shoulder firelocks! Slow time march!" 
 cried Elam. 
 
 " Attention, company ! Right dress ! Poise fire 
 locks ! Shoulder firelocks ! Slow time march !" 
 cried the tall Virginian. 
 
 And Faunce repeated the order. 
 
 The clatter of horses' hoofs and the well-appointed 
 staff of the commander-in-chief rode up. Washington 
 himself was at Smallwood's side, and gave him his 
 hand in eager congratulation. 
 
 " Present arms ! Present arms !" 
 
 Washington turned to the men, uncovered his head, 
 and said : 
 
r7 2 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 ' We cannot thank you enough, gentlemen ! With 
 such soldiers America will never be conquered. A 
 merry Christmas to you all !" 
 
 Then he bent in the saddle, took Elam Ford by the 
 hand, and said : 
 
 ' The best parade I ever saw, sir ! May I know 
 your rank and name ?" 
 
 " Elam Ford, private, Massachusetts iQth, under 
 arrest," said Elam, proud as Cceur de Lion. 
 
 " I am obliged to you none the less, captain," said 
 Washington, pressing his hand this time. ' We shall 
 know each other better. You may dismiss your men. 
 The alarm is over. A merry Christmas, boys !" 
 
 " General," said Small wood, " if you would dis 
 mount, there is a cold turkey here and a glass of good 
 Madeira. Ask your gentlemen to join us. Colonel Lee 
 will be thirsty after his long ride, and we shall all wait 
 for him." Then turning to Ford and beckoning to 
 Faunce and to the Virginian, ' ' Gentlemen, will you 
 also join us in a glass of wine ?" 
 
 He whispered to his orderly, and in a minute more 
 the bugler, who had just now blew so different a strain, 
 was sounding forth to the wind : 
 
 " Pease upon a trencher pease upon a trencher." 
 
 The extemporized party was scarcely as noisy as 
 that whose places they had taken. 
 
 The start which they all had was too fresh, and all 
 ears were too much on the alert for a new alarm. 
 
 Washington was courteous ; Hamilton was affable ; 
 Reed made himself at home ; and Smallwood, trying 
 to put all his guests at ease, called Lafayette, who had 
 returned with the commander-in-chief. 
 
 " Marquis, if you ever want to teach the king's infan 
 try of the line how to rally in a panic, ask this gentle- 
 
CHRISTMAS MORNING VALLEY FORGE. 173 
 
 man to give you lessons. By Jove, I sat my horse in 
 wonder to see those frightened boys fall in." 
 
 And he presented Ford to the marquis, and they 
 took wine together. 
 
 A minute more, and with a little bustle, Glover and 
 Larned and Patterson came in. 
 
 " We have come to finish the Madeira, general," 
 said Patterson, laughing. 
 
 " Then my bugler blew loud enough to call you ?" 
 
 "We heard him as we came. To tell the truth, 
 Glover was not unwilling." And they could.all afford 
 to laugh now. 
 
 Then they also saw the commander-in-chief, and 
 apologized to him, and exchanged their formal con 
 gratulations. 
 
 ' ' Glover," said Smallwood, who did not mean to 
 forget his new friend, Elam Ford, "you Yankees do 
 not know much about Christmas." 
 
 "We know good Madeira when we see it," said 
 Glover, laughing. 
 
 " They do say you Marblehead men steer your regi 
 ments with a tiller and a rudder," said Smallwood, and 
 the laugh was turned again. " I won't say much for 
 your general ; but for me, if I am to turn out in two 
 minutes in the dark again, I hope I may have a private 
 of the iQth to rally my men under fire." 
 
 For the first time, Glover took in the position. But 
 he was quick, and though he did not know Elam Ford 
 by sight, he understood it. He bowed, well pleased 
 at the compliment to his men. 
 
 " I always told you that I had not a man in my 
 brigade but what would make a good colonel." 
 
 "Well said, general," said Washington, smiling, 
 ' and very true. Will you oblige general and gentle- 
 
174 OUR CHRISTMAS /7V r A PALACE, 
 
 men by drinking the health of Captain Elam Ford ? 
 To our better acquaintance, Captain Ford. 
 
 " Really, Smallwood, I must not stay another 
 minute. 
 
 " We thought we would look at all the forts. If we 
 find any other company paraded, we shall want to wish 
 them a merry Christmas. ' ' 
 
 PROMOTION. 
 
 At brigade general headquarters of " Glover's," on 
 the 27th of December, the whole brigade paraded. At 
 the end of the parade the officer on duty read the 
 general order, which closed with the words : 
 
 " For gallantry in action, Private Elam Ford is 
 relieved from arrest. 
 
 " For gallantry in action, at the special request of 
 his Excellency the Commander-in-chief, Private Elam 
 Ford is promoted to serve as captain, vice Wilderspin 
 transferred to the naval ^ervice. 
 
 As Mr. Menet ended, a stalwart old lumberman, in 
 the back of the car, rose and said through his nose, 
 quite loud : 
 
 I should like to have the privilege to enquire, 
 be that story true ?" 
 
 " Well," said Menet, laughing, " I tell it as I found 
 it." 
 
 " I went over the ground once," said the professor, 
 " with the story in my hand. It might have 
 happened it might have happened." 
 
 "A good many things mought have happened," 
 said the lumberman. 
 
 And the others assented. 
 

 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 -SEPZIBAH'S TURKEYS. 
 
 HECTOR called again, in a broad grin : 
 
 " Four. Mrs. Frechette will make a confession." 
 
 Mrs. Frechette sprang to her feet at once. 
 
 " In sack-cloth and ashes I confess that Mr. Van 
 Sandfoord is a humbug and cheat. I introduced him 
 to his place, I made him chairman of the committee. 
 I confess I was a fool. I confess that he was quite in 
 capable from the beginning " 
 
 And we were all in a shout of laughter, when poor 
 Hector, a little upset, it must be confessed, turned to 
 his sheet, and had to read : 
 
 " Fifth. Mrs. Van Sandfoord will tell the story of 
 her life." 
 
 " My life has been so long," said the pretty little 
 bride, blushing, " that you will not care to hear the 
 whole of it. 
 
 " But while Mr. Decker read us his Thanksgiving 
 story, I remembered one experience one day, which I 
 saw in the life of one of my companions in Sunday- 
 school. 
 
 " When my life is edited, this can come in as an epi 
 sode in the sixteenth chapter of my eighteenth year. 
 
 " And our friend will be pleased to know that this 
 story is true. 
 
 " I have it here written out in my scrap-book. It 
 is called here 
 
176 OUR CHRISTMAS AV A PALACE. 
 
 "HEPZIBAH'S TURKEYS." 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 It is all sixteen years ago. Had the lives of the 
 turkeys been spared, as they were not, they would all 
 now be sweet seventeen. They might have rivalled 
 in size the sixty-pound turkeys which Josselyn saw here 
 two hundred years ago.* 
 
 But their lives were not spared. 
 
 The first I heard of the turkeys was as I came down 
 from the pulpit on the Sunday morning before 
 Thanksgiving. Miss Maria Jennings had worked her 
 way to the neighborhood of the pulpit stairs, and beck 
 oned me. I joined her. 
 
 14 I wanted to ask you if you remember Hepzibah 
 Brown?" 
 
 " Of course I do," said I" the girl with the blind 
 mother." 
 
 ' The same," said Miss Maria. " You know she is 
 in my Bible-class. I had thought that it would be a nice 
 thing to suggest to the other girls, who have not the 
 slightest idea what hardship is (as how should they ?), 
 to suggest to them that we would surprise Hepsie and 
 her mother with a Thanksgiving dinner. Poor souls, 
 I do not know how else they should have one. You 
 do not see any harm, do you ?" 
 
 "Harm? Not the least," said I; "but a great 
 deal of good, rather." 
 
 " She will not be offended or hurt, will she ? 
 
 " I never saw that she was a fool," said I. "If she 
 is, we had better all of us find it out. I should say, 
 
 * " I have heard several credible persons affirm they have seen 
 turkie-cocks that have weighed forty, yea, sixty pound." Josselyn's 
 " Wonders," Archaologia Americana, vol. 4, p. 144. 
 
HEPZIBAirs ^TURKEYS. 177 
 
 though, that ' never anything can be amiss when sim- 
 pleness and duty tender it.' ' 
 
 Miss Maria laughed and went her way ; and, when 
 the Bible-class gathered, she proposed her little plan to 
 those of the girls who came in before Hepzibah Brown 
 did, and bade them propose it to those who came in 
 after her. They were all pleased with the proposal, 
 and, as Monday and Tuesday passed, they brought 
 round to Miss Maria more money for their contribu 
 tions to the turkey than she really knew well what to 
 do with. I met her Wednesday morning, and she told 
 me so. But she said she had bought her turkey, and 
 had ordered home with him squashes and apples and 
 cranberries and a bag of flour. Then, as cranberries 
 were useless without sugar and pies profitless without 
 cheese, she had added twenty pounds of sugar and 
 five of cheese. She had a little money left, and she 
 was going to send a few pounds of tea to the old lady. 
 
 THE TURKEYS ARRIVE. 
 
 Hepzibah Brown was most briefly described, as the 
 reader has seen, ' ' as the girl who had the blind 
 mother." Her mother had lost her sight long, long 
 before I knew anything about either of them ; nor do 
 I know how she lost it. I first found them living in 
 two rooms, of which Hepzibah had to pay the rent 
 weekly, and for which she provided the ways and 
 means by the most difficult and trying works and days. 
 She went out to " days' works," technically so called. 
 She occasionally contracted to take in babies by the 
 month, in which case she invariably spent on their 
 milk much more than all the money paid to her ; and 
 in a sharp strain she took in slop-work to sew upon. 
 
178 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 But \ve all knew that times were indeed hard when she 
 came to this resource. 
 
 For her mother there were several sources of revenue, 
 which required nursing and tending worthy of Huskis- 
 son or Vansittart. There was the monthly payment of 
 one dollar and sixty-two cents to each of the descend 
 ants of Jairus Hotchkiss. You had to go for this 
 money at quarter before eleven on the second Friday 
 before the third Thursday in the month. " It would 
 derange my accounts," said the lady treasurer, "if 
 they came at any other time." Then there was a 
 dollar and a half a month from the Widows' Associa 
 tion. This you went for in the afternoon of the first 
 Saturday in the month. It was steady pay ; but it 
 made it necessary for the old lady to stay in Boston 
 through all the summer, for fear she would lose her 
 "residence," Indeed, Hepzibah had once or twice 
 been tempted to take lodgings in Dorchester, where 
 rents were much lower ; but she had resisted the temp 
 tation, because in that case she (or her mother, strictly) 
 would have been cut off the list of the Association. 
 For the Association saw some advantages which I do 
 not see in keeping such people cooped up together in 
 the town. The Overseers of the Poor of Boston have 
 similar rules. The old lady drew two dollars a month 
 from them ; and she was right careful to go for that 
 dole regularly, and not to slip into any bosky dells, to 
 which it would not follow her. I think her husband 
 had been a pump and block maker ; and the " Seamen's 
 Society," seeing that by virtue of the pumps he dealt 
 in water and by virtue of the blocks was conversant 
 with running rigging, took him on their lists, with a 
 loyal indifference to red-tape, for which I blessed 
 them. 
 
HEPZIBA H ' $ TURKE YS. 179 
 
 That brought in a dollar and a quarter a month 
 more. 
 
 Did I hear you grumbling, my dear Tyrus, because 
 the Golconda and Croesusberg divided only five and a 
 half per cent in September, while you had had six per 
 cent every six months before since you can remember ? 
 
 Please spend half an hour, then, with a bit of paper, 
 arranging your monthly personal expenses on such a 
 scale of Debit that a little balance will be left to you 
 when you have added up these four Credits : 
 
 Cr. 
 
 City of Boston, . . ^ . . . $2.00 
 
 Jair. Hotchk., . , , . . ':. ,..* . 1.62$ 
 
 Widows' Association, . . . -. . . 1.50 
 
 Pump and Block, . . ,......... . 1.25 
 
 I ask you to make out this little monthly statement 
 of expenses including your share of two dollars a week 
 rent because the calculation of these figures, arranged 
 in different ways, took up most of the waking hours of 
 Hepzibah Brown, when she lay awake at all. 
 
 For Hepzibah Brown herself, she tried hard not to 
 beg, and liked to avail herself of the public means of 
 culture and enjoyment. She was much more cheaply 
 dressed than any of the other girls in Miss Maria's 
 Bible-class. But she loyally came to the Bible-class, 
 and I honored her for it, and so did Miss Maria. She 
 sometimes indulged herself in tickets to a course of 
 Lowell lectures on the " Non-metallic Bodies" or the 
 " Correlation of Forces." She could get the tickets 
 by standing in the street in a queue of half a mile, on 
 her way home from Jairus Hotchkiss's. And in the 
 evening, at the lectures, she saw the people. As she 
 said herself, it saved gas and coal from seven o'clock 
 till nine. It was true that the old lady could not see 
 
I So OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 the experiments or the other illustrations. But she 
 liked society, was glad to be in a crowd ; and, as 
 Hepzibah truly said, it was hard to get her out, and 
 this was a good excuse for a walk for her. 
 
 They kept up, I think, between themselves, at most 
 times, the pretence of much more ease of circumstance 
 than ever existed or had existed. Sometimes there 
 had to be some such frank exhibit as I have made above. 
 But in general both of them thought something was 
 going to turn up. They had, as all cheerful people 
 have, great facility at discounting all their anticipa 
 tions. And it was only when some lady visitor of the 
 Hotchkiss charity, or some committee on retrenchment 
 of the " Association" forced Hepzibah to state the nar 
 rowness of her circumstances that she herself was really 
 aware quite how hard her case was. She would, as I 
 said, add up her mother's income in many different 
 ways ; but the result in all was substantially the same. 
 Still, by casting it upon the basis of a year it seemed a 
 good deal more than when she did it monthly. And 
 she, therefore, sometimes indulged herself in observing 
 that it was seventy-six dollars and fifty-one cents a year, 
 and that was a great deal of money ; and that with 
 seventy-six dollars and fifty-one cents a great deal can 
 be done. In general, they affected, even with each 
 other, to be well satisfied with the outlook, and sure 
 that the present hard times would soon be over, and 
 things in general easier to everybody. 
 
 In this mood, on the Wednesday after Miss Maria 
 made the move about the turkeys in the Bible-class, 
 Hepzibah said, as she poured out her second cup of tea, 
 as she and her mother lingered at breakfast : 
 
 " I don't mean to take much trouble about Thanks 
 giving this year. The last time I roasted a turkey it 
 
HE PZIB AH'S TURKEYS. 181 
 
 took a heap of wood and made me no end of trouble. 
 I was glad o' the trouble, 'cause I knew poor Jethro 'd 
 have no turkey anywhere else. And he did take 
 pleasure in that turkey, anyway. But Jethro (well, I 
 s'pose Jethro must be in the Sandwich Islands, mother, 
 now), he won't be here. And Sally told me she should 
 be out to Melrose. There won't be nobody but you 
 and me, and I don't think it's worth while bothering 
 about the turkey. I've got to go at one to help 'em 
 at Miss Scarlett's. They'll have a heap of people to 
 morrow, and I told Miss Scarlett 't, if I could, I'd 
 come round. It would be a plague to you to be fussing 
 over the gravy, if we had the turkey ; so I guess we 
 won't have none. When I get home from Miss 
 Scarlett's I'll just roll out a little paste, and I can mix 
 up and kind o' stew a few cran'bries 'fore I go to bed ; 
 and if you'd stone some raisins, as you sit hereto-day, 
 I'll mix a little plum pudding to-morrow, and we'll call 
 that our Thanksgiving." 
 
 The old lady expressed her entire satisfaction, said 
 she should eat no turkey herself, if they had any ; that 
 she thought it would be as much bother to her as it 
 would be to Hepzibah. And they thus disguised from 
 each other the truth, which was perfectly well known 
 to both of them, that a turkey for Thanksgiving was 
 as unattainable as was Aladdin's roc or a roc's egg, 
 had they taken any fancy that way. 
 
 At noon the two took another cup of tea together 
 and each ate a cold sausage. Hepzibah said she was 
 rather in a hurry to get round to Miss Scarlett's, be 
 cause they would not be able to do nothing till she got 
 there, and would be kinder expecting her. She would 
 not get a regular dinner, therefore, at home, unless her 
 mother particularly wished it. Her mother replied 
 
182 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 that she did not feel much like eating, and had thought 
 of suggesting that they should not set the table for 
 dinner, but have a bit of bread and butter and a cup 
 of tea. So they were both satisfied, or pretended to 
 be, and Hepzibah went to Miss Scarlett's. 
 
 She had not been gone more than half an hour when 
 the old lady, sitting in that eternal darkness, was roused 
 from her after-luncheon doze by a rap at the door. 
 She cried, ''Come in!" as loudly as her weak old 
 voice would say so ; and Miss Maria entered, cheerily 
 and cordially. She was no stranger in the place, and 
 Mrs. Brown recognized her knock, step, and voice 
 immediately. Miss Maria was a little disappointed 
 that she did not find Hepzibah ; but was glad to find 
 she had "got work." She inquired carefully about 
 Mrs. Brown's health ; and, which was much more to the 
 point, listened faithfully and patiently to the old lady's 
 answer a thing philanthropists are not quite so sure 
 to do as they are to make the proper inquiries. Miss 
 Maria then said she thought times were going to mend, 
 and that it would be a mild winter, and that work 
 would be more plenty than ever, and that she thought 
 Hepzibah would have more than she could do ; for 
 which opinions I am afraid Miss Maria was largely in 
 debted to a cheerful temper. Still, as she held them, 
 in a certain form, I am glad that she expressed them 
 to poor old Mrs. Brown, who certainly needed all the 
 comfort she could pick up, and whose means of know 
 ing the " mind of the street" on such subjects were 
 limited. Then Miss Maria said she could not make a 
 long call, and came to the proper object of her visit. 
 
 She went to the door, and, with her own red right 
 hand, brought in the turkey, which she had waiting 
 there for a surprise. Ah me ! There was no need of 
 
HEPZIBAir TURKEYS. 183 
 
 leaving it outside to surprise old Mrs. Brown. Miss 
 Maria might have brought in a feather-bed on her back, 
 and the old lady would not have known it in that 
 eternal midnight. 
 
 As it was, Miss Maria brought in her plump eleven- 
 pounder, and put it on the table at the old lady's side, 
 and explained that the young ladies at the Bible-class 
 had arranged the dinner, as a surprise for Hepzibah, 
 and made as if she had herself nothing to do with the 
 affair. Then she tapped at the window, and Phineas 
 came up-stairs from the doorway, where he had been 
 waiting for the proper moment in the surprise, with the 
 sugar and tea and cranberries and squashes, the cheese 
 and apples, and the bag of flour. She explained what 
 these " fixin's" were, and was about to leave some 
 what abruptly, when the old lady, who was really very 
 thankful and behaved very sweetly through the whole, 
 asked her if Phineas would mind putting all the things 
 into the store-closet, and laying the turkey on a certain 
 shelf which she described, high above the highest flight 
 of the cat in the back entry. For, she said, it occurred 
 to her that it would be very good fun to surprise Hep 
 zibah when she came back from Miss Scarlett's. I ought 
 perhaps to mention, in this place, that it was now forty 
 years since " Miss" Scarlett had been united in 
 marriage to the Hon. Le Fevre Scarlett she having 
 been Miss Lilian White and that the title " Miss" was 
 merely the form used by the aborigines in describing 
 the condition of honorable wedlock. 
 
 Phineas gladly fell in with all Mrs. Brown's devices, 
 and the stores were concealed, according to her order. 
 She had relapsed into stoning the raisins, after knitting 
 a few rounds on a long stocking, which " Miss" 
 Plumptre had sent the yarn for, and which was to be 
 
184 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 sent to a Maori chieftain when it was finished and when 
 its companion was finished, when she was aroused again 
 by the sharp closing of the outer door down-stairs. 
 There was no room for question as to the step on the 
 stairs this time. Men and angels knew that step as the 
 step of Officer Fosdick, who was this week on the day 
 patrol in Lucas Street ; and Mrs. Brown, who was 
 neither a man nor an angel, knew it as well as if she 
 had been both at once. Hastily she ran through the 
 little catalogue of her sins and Hepzibah's, inquiring 
 which of them fell within the category of crimes pro 
 hibited by the law. She was certain that they had not 
 thrown marbles at an auctioneer, as Harry Griggs did, 
 and was sent to Westborough for doing it. Certainly 
 they had not lifted ribbons from Mudge's, as that 
 odious Miss Farrelly did, in the next house, when the 
 neighborhood was disgraced by her arrest. She knew 
 that the pipes and faucets had not been protected 
 against the cold ; but she did not believe that there 
 yet had been any frost hard enough to catch them, and 
 she and Hepsie were, as usual, running for luck, in 
 the hope that there might not be. As Officer Fosdick 
 stumped up the stairs Mrs. Brown thus exhausted her 
 catalogue of crime, and with conscious innocence 
 uttered a severe " Come in !" 
 
 " How do, Miss Smith ?" said Officer Fosdick, civil 
 ly enough. ' Thanky mum, I'm pretty well myself. 
 Isn't your daughter to home ?" 
 
 " No, sir," said Mrs. Brown, still with conscious in 
 nocence and greatly aggrieved. " Hepzibah is not at 
 home." Was she to rejoice or not at her absence? 
 Suppose Hepzibah were to be arrested at some distance 
 from home, what would become of Mrs. Brown ? 
 
 " Sorry, mum," said Officer Fosdick ; " but it's just 
 
HEPZIBAH'S "TURKEYS. 185 
 
 as well, seeing you are." Horiiblc suspense to Mrs. 
 Brown ! Suppose she were arrested and haled to 
 prison, as Paul and Silas were at Philippi, what would 
 happen when Hepzibah returned ? 
 
 But the suspense did not last many seconds. Officer 
 Fosdick continued, in a tone which showed that he was 
 well pleased : 
 
 ' The captain sends his compliments, mum, to you 
 and your daughter, mum ; and here's a turkey, mum, 
 for Thanksgiving. There's been a little subscription 
 at the station, mum, to give turkeys to them as 
 might not well, as might not have thought to buy 
 'em, mum, and the captain said himself, mum, that he 
 wanted to be sure you had one, mum." 
 
 It was well that the officer's speech was long, for Mrs. 
 Brown thought, at the beginning, that he was announc 
 ing the same turkey which Miss Jennings had brought. 
 But she recovered herself, without betraying the fact 
 that another turkey had arrived, which might have 
 mortified him. She thanked him very courteously, and 
 then, at his request, " hefted" the turkey; the only way 
 by which she could judge what a " noble crittur it 
 was. " She then asked him if he would be so kind as to 
 put it into the closet, which she pointed out to him, 
 next the stove. 
 
 Officer Fosdick did so. If he were a little surprised 
 at seeing the squashes and parcels which Phineas had 
 left there, he said nothing. " I've hung her up, mum, 
 on a nail they is in the top shelf, mum," said he. And 
 Mrs. Brown thanked him, and he bade farewell. 
 
 She fell back upon her knitting and upon planning 
 out the devices by which she would make of the two 
 turkeys a surprise to Hepzibah when she returned. 
 But she had not knit twenty times round when she 
 
1 86 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 heard the outer door open and shut again. Nobody 
 ever rings at these lodging-houses ; indeed, the bell- 
 wires were long since broken at all of them. The step 
 this time was wholly unknown to Mrs. Brown. But 
 the stranger did not pass the door, but knocked 
 loudly. 
 
 " Come in." 
 
 " Do Mrs. and Miss Brown live here ?" said the gray- 
 coated coachman, whip in hand, who entered. 
 
 " I am Mrs. Brown. My daughter is not at home." 
 
 " Just as well, ma'am," and the man disappeared. 
 But it was to return in a moment. " Mrs. Cradock 
 sends her compliments, and hopes Mrs. Brown and 
 Miss Brown will have a pleasant ' Thanksgiving. And 
 Mrs. Cradock sends a turkey and a few other things. 
 Where shall I leave them, ma'am ?" 
 
 " Oh, just put them on the table. Thank you kindly. 
 And tell Mrs. Cradock that we are very much obliged, 
 I am sure. I hope she's very well." 
 
 ' Thank you, ma'am, she's very well. Good-by, 
 ma'am. I can't leave my horses." And the gray 
 coachman, who to Mrs. Brown was no more gray than 
 green, disappeared. 
 
 ' Well, now," said she, as she crossed and " hefted" 
 turkey No. 3, and smelled at the heavy package of 
 Bohea, and did the same by the two squash pies that 
 the man had left " well, now, how shall I keep these 
 out of Hepzibah's sight?" Carefully and successfully 
 she opened a crypt under the sink, moved the pots all 
 to one end, hung the turkey on a nail she remembered 
 there, and then one by one she placed the other boun 
 ties in the store-closet, as she might. 
 
 A good deal flustered, she returned to her chair, to 
 find that there were but three needles in her stocking. 
 
HEPZIBAH'S T-URKEYS. 187 
 
 This was a serious matter. And Mrs. Brown was on 
 her knees on the floor, groping for the fourth needle, 
 when she heard another rat-tat-tat at the door. She 
 hurried to her feet as soon as she could and gave 
 permission to enter. 
 
 It was Hitty. Hitty was wholly out of breath. 
 " Miss Brown, I was standing up to the head of the 
 court, and a lady come by, and asked if I knew 
 where Miss Hepzibah Brown lived. And I said it was 
 No. 7, up the street, up one flight. And she says, 
 says she, ' I'm a little late for my car,' says she just 
 so. ' Will you just carry this turkey to Miss Hepzibah 
 Brown, with my love ? ' And then she stopped ; says 
 she, 'It's Miss Brown that has a blind mother.' 
 And I said, yes, Miss Hepsy Brown had a blind 
 mother. And she gin me ten cents for bringing it, 
 and here it is." 
 
 'Why, Hitty," said the old lady, amazed, "who 
 was the lady ?" 
 
 " Don't know," said Hitty. " I asked her, says I, 
 ' Who shall I say it is ? ' says I. And she says, says she, 
 ' Oh, she'll know,' says she. So she called the Norfolk 
 House car, that was passing ; and she got in, she did ; 
 and I come up here with the turkey, and here it is. 
 It's real heavy, Miss Brown, and it's a beauty. I 
 wish you could see it, Miss Brown. But do just heft 
 it." 
 
 So Mrs. Brown "hefted" the turkey, as she had 
 hefted three others. 
 
 11 And now, Hitty, will you help me look for my 
 knitting-needle. I was on the floor looking for it." 
 
 " It's pretty dark this side of the room, Miss Brown. 
 Might I light a lamp ?" 
 
 Poor Mrs. Brown ! It was as light to her as it was 
 
T88 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 by the window. Hitty lighted her lamp, and went on 
 her knees for the exploration. Rising, a little exhausted 
 by the bending, she cried out, " Here it is, Miss 
 Brown." 
 
 " Where was it, my dear child ?" 
 " Oh, jest behind you, mum. Good-by." 
 Kitty's grammar was imperfect ; but she had native 
 politeness enough not to tell the old lady that the lost 
 needle was stuck in her back hair. Unless some one 
 reads to her this story, she will never know where that 
 needle was till she dies. 
 
 She took the needle and worked faithfully on upon 
 the Maori chieftain's stocking. Whether more turkeys 
 would arrive she wondered. Whether she would 
 secrete number four, or leave it where Hitty laid it. 
 Finally she hung it on a nail behind the door by 
 which Hepzibah would enter. So she knitted and 
 dozed, and dozed and knitted. When the somewhat 
 shaky clock which we then had on our church-tower 
 struck seven, she laid down the Maori's garment, filled 
 the teapot, put it on the stove, and filled up with 
 kindling and wood. To say true, Mrs. Brown had 
 wrapped her shawl tight round her as the afternoon 
 passed, but had made no more fire than Hepzibah had 
 left. She knew that Hepzibah might leave " Miss 
 Scarlett's" as early as seven. 
 
 But it was eight and after before Hepzibah came. 
 The tea-kettle had boiled long before (or the water in 
 it), and had been set back to the rear of the stove, for 
 a decorous simmer there. At last the well- known step 
 sounded on the stair, and the hard-worked, long- 
 waited-for absentee returned. She slyly laid down in 
 the sink something heavy which she had in her hand, 
 and came to her mother and kissed her ; a token wholly 
 
HEPZIBAH'S TURKEYS. 189 
 
 unusual ancJ unexpected in that establishment, in 
 which no sentiment was ever wasted. 
 
 " What do you think, mammy, dear ? I've changed 
 my mind, and we will have a Thanksgiving dinner, 
 after all." 
 
 " How did she know ?" This was Mrs. Brown's only 
 thought. 
 
 " You see, we had to fly round at Miss Scarlett's, I 
 tell you. They're going to have all his brothers, and 
 her sisters, and two judges from England, and I dunno 
 what all, to dinner goin' to set the table cornerwise 
 in the big parlor of all ; and then they have a late tea 
 and supper together, and have all the cousins 'way 
 from West Newton and Brahntry seventy- four in all. 
 Jane Scarlett says to me, says she, ' Ther'll be sev 
 enty-four in all, if the weather's fine ; so Miss Byfield 
 ken bring in her twins, ' says she. And their famous 
 Mrs. Midge, the grand cook, that they spoke for three 
 months ago she that makes their Marlboroughs and 
 their open-top apple-pies she hadn't come nigh 'em 
 when I got there ; and Miss Scarlett and Jane Scarlett 
 had to take hold themselves, and I had to spring to, 
 I tell you ; and we have had a smart time of it since 
 I was here. Well, I had my tea there ; and just as I 
 come away Miss Scarlett, says she, ' Hepsy,' says she, 
 ' you let John go home with you,' says she, ' and let 
 him carry this turkey,' says she, ' for your mother,' 
 says she ; ' for,' says she, ' your mother won't feel like 
 going out to-morrow, Hepsy,' says she, ' and so,' says 
 she, ' she better have her turkey to home, Hepsy,' says 
 she. ' She did,' says she. So here's your turkey, 
 mammy. He's a beauty. Do just heft him." 
 
 And Mrs. Brown hefted the fifth turkey. She was 
 a little grieved to find the wind, in a measure, taken 
 
190 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 out of her sails ; but she concealed her grief, and in the 
 darkness Hepzibah did not observe her expression. 
 While she was busying herself in replenishing the fire, 
 Mrs. Brown crossed the room and lifted down No. 4, so 
 that he lay by the side of No. 5. Then, as Hepsy rose 
 from her puffing and blowing, and lighted the lamp, 
 she saw in a moment that there were twins where she 
 had laid but one turkey ; and then the old lady was 
 well satisfied with her amazement. 
 
 It is easy to imagine how she went on how, when 
 Hepsy opened the closet, to find No. 2, and the stores 
 which surrounded him, the good old soul had one 
 triumph more ; how then, by clumsy artifices, she 
 made her look under the sink for No. 3 ; and at last 
 fairly sent her into the back entry to see No. 1 
 upon his supra-feline shelf. A jolly evening had 
 Mrs. Brown and Hepzibah with their jorums of 
 tea from Miss Maria's paper and with the successive 
 surprises. 
 
 They had both got to bed, and the light was blown 
 out, when the outer door swung open again, and one 
 more tramp was to be heard on the stairway. 
 
 " Gracious, mercy ! More turkeys !" cried Mrs. 
 Brown. 
 
 " No," groaned Hepsy, "it is not turkeys this time. 
 It's that drunken MacDonnell thundering up to beat 
 his wife again." 
 
 Drunk or sober, the thunderer stopped at Hepsy's 
 door and knocked. 
 
 " Who's there?" 
 
 " Adams's Express. Parcel to be left to-night. 
 Marked ' without fail,' "' replied the thunderer, more 
 good-naturedly than was to be expected. 
 
 Hepsy was striking a match. She arranged some 
 
HEPZIBAH' S T&RKEYS. 191 
 
 N 
 
 hurried and superficial toilet, and in a couple of min 
 utes opened a crack of the door. 
 
 "You must give me more room, mum, or I can't 
 get him in," said the good-natured thunderer. 
 
 "Him? Who is he?" 
 
 But as Hepsy opened the door wider, he appeared. 
 The largest turkey of all, with his wings not clipped off. 
 
 " Orders are strict to be delivered to-night. Train 
 late, mum hopped a frog at Wilmington Junction. 
 Guess the turkey's for Thanksgiving." 
 
 This last with a broad grin, as if the purpose might 
 be questionable. 
 
 Sure enough, to Hepzibah's wondering eyes there 
 appeared a large label : " To Miss Hepzibah Brown, 
 No. 7 Lucas Street, second floor, with the respects of 
 Ezekiel Hopkins. To be delivered this evening, 
 WITHOUT FAIL." The gigantic letters at the close 
 were enough to have alarmed or, at least, excited any 
 reasonable expressman ; nor had they failed. 
 
 Now, Ezekiel Hopkins was a tinman from Ipswich, 
 who had been on the steamer " Creole" when Hepsy 
 and her mother joined in the Foresters' excursion in 
 the harbor, in September. 
 
 " Please receipt, mum," said the well-satisfied 
 thunderer. And with trembling hand Hepzibah 
 signed the receipt in his book. She bade the 
 thunderer 'good-night and retired this time to un 
 broken slumbers. 
 
 Yes, Mathilde, to slumbers. She had had a turkey 
 sent her from Ezekiel Hopkins. But she had scoured 
 floors all the morning and worked loyally at the 
 Scarlett's till near eight in the evening, and so she slept 
 soundly, and would have done so had Ezekiel Hopkins 
 sent three turkeys. 
 
192 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 THANKSGIVING MORNING. 
 
 I am ashamed to confess that, when, the next Sun 
 day, Hepzibah Brown gave me the heads of this story, 
 briefly, as we left the church together, I was carnal 
 enough to say : 
 
 " Well, I suppose Silas Brackett was glad to take off 
 your hands all the turkeys you could not use." 
 
 Now, Silas Brackett kept the " provision store," as 
 we Yankees call a small meat market, at the corner. 
 
 " I dare say," said Hepzibah, as proudly as Juno ; 
 " but he had no turkeys of mine to sell." 
 
 And I was thoroughly shamed when she added : 
 
 " I knew plenty of poor people that had no Thanks 
 giving dinner." 
 
 The emphasis on poor was superb. For once, Hepsy 
 had had the satisfaction of dispensing charity ; and no 
 Mrs. Cradock, or Officer Fosdick, or Maria Jennings of 
 them all would discharge that office more grandly nor 
 more kindly than she. 
 
 She told me nothing about it ; but there was little 
 which passed in Lucas Street, or Carney Place, or 
 Orange Lane in those days, which was not reported 
 before the week was over to one or other of the 
 saints who were at work in our sewing-room, and with 
 out much difficulty I was able to patch out the story I 
 now tell to you. 
 
 Hepsy and her mother slept late on Thanksgiving 
 morning. There was no " day's work" to be grateful 
 for, at which one must report at seven o'clock, break 
 fast already eaten. Hepsy took the good of her bed, 
 for once, and then made a fire lavishly. She had a 
 \veek's provant in the house, and that was a very long 
 forelock for her. A sumptuous breakfast she and Mrs. 
 
HEPZIBAH'S TURKEY S. 193 
 
 Brown made ; and then Hepsy assumed the Lady 
 Bountiful, as if she had been born to the position. 
 
 " I hate to leave you, mother ; but it's Thanksgiv 
 ing day, and I think, before meeting, I'll just step 
 round into Orange Lane, and see how those poor 
 Flannagans get on. I hadn't any time to go and see 
 them yesterday. We sha'n't want to put our turkey 
 in the oven before eleven. I'll just stuff him and get 
 him ready now, and then I'll be back in time to put 
 him in. Perhaps you would not mind pounding the 
 cracker. ' ' 
 
 All this without the slightest allusion to the theory 
 of yesterday morning's breakfast, that the roasting of 
 the turkey would be a useless bother. 
 
 So they quickly got the great fowl ready, and then 
 Hepsy arrayed herself in her Sunday's best for her visit 
 to the Flannagans. Ah me ! That was what the 
 philanthropists are apt to say is " not a good case." 
 Indeed, it was not a good case. Hepsy went in 
 cordially, but with a consciousness of her dignity and 
 position, and of the distinction which must be preserved 
 between the classes of society. Mrs. Flannagan, care 
 worn and wretched, welcomed her and wiped the seat 
 of the only chair with her apron. Hepsy inquired 
 by name after the children, and then how Mike was 
 doing. " How do you do?" means one thing, my 
 dear Mrs. Whitehead or my dear Mrs. Lovechild, 
 when Fanny comes running into your parlor, and says, 
 ' How do you do ?" to you. But when you ask how 
 Mike Flannagan is doing, the question means simply 
 is he getting along without making a beast of himself 
 or no. Alas ! Mike was not doing well. He had 
 assisted in a turkey raffle the night before to such 
 purpose that he had spent all the money which they 
 
194 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 would advance him at Hinckley's, that he had won no 
 turkey, and that he had been brought back at one in 
 the morning by Britt and Flinders, who were only not 
 quite so drunk as he was. Mrs. Flannagan pointed 
 sadly into the dark alcove, on the straw on the bottom 
 of which Mike was sleeping off his whiskey, much as a 
 pig might sleep in the covered part of his stye. 
 
 ' Too bad," said Hepsy. ' Too bad, Mary. Hang 
 ing is not good enough for them that give him the 
 liquor. But he's well at home now. I'll come round 
 in the morning with Mac, and we'll make him take the 
 pledge before he goes out. Don't you say a word to 
 him to-day. I came 'round because I want Larry for 
 an hour or two ; and if you will let him come with me 
 he shall bring you a nice turkey for your Thanksgiving 
 dinner. So do you take heart, Mary, and you shall 
 have a good, pleasant Thanksgiving, after all. You 
 see my turkey raffle turned out better than Mike's." 
 
 Poor Mary would not laugh, but she gave her consent 
 gladly enough to Larry's going with Hepsy, and 
 Hepsy started in search of him among the boys who 
 were skating on the frozen puddle behind the stables. 
 
 Larry, as need hardly be said, was immensely 
 excited by the commission. He borrowed Hiram 
 Flinders's four-wheel, when he found what was in the 
 wind ; went back with Hepsy to Lucas Street, took in 
 his freight, and decorously accompanied her, with as 
 much dignity as Mrs. Cradock's coachman would have 
 shown on the morning's expedition. First they came 
 back to his mother's ; and Mrs. Flannagan had to take 
 a regular talking to from Lady Bountiful as to how the 
 turkey was to be stuffed and basted. Let us trust that 
 she obeyed the injunctions. Then they went to little 
 Mrs, Serz, in the cellar in Castle Street. Hepsy worked 
 
HEPZIBAirS TURKEYS. 195 
 
 her way in with some difficulty, for the muslin skirt of 
 Gertrude MacFlimsey hung across the room from one 
 side to another, as it was drying. In the window 
 corner Mrs. Serz was doing crimping, or fluting, or 
 clear starching, or some deed without a name. 
 
 " Good-morning, Miss Serz." 
 
 " Gut en Morgen, guten Morgen." 
 
 " A nice day for Thanksgiving, Miss Serz." 
 
 ' ' Nicht verstehe, nicht verstehe. ' ' 
 
 " Glad to see you so well. But it's a shame you 
 have to work on Thanksgiving. ' ' 
 
 ' ' Nicht verstehe, nicht verstehe. ' ' 
 ' Thank you kindly, she's very well. We had a 
 turkey we could not use, Mrs. Serz, and I thought you 
 might like it." 
 
 Mrs. Serz was a little amazed by this time, and 
 looked for Constance, who could interpret a little. 
 But Hepsy was before her, and called in Larry. 
 
 " Here's the turkey, Miss Serz. And if you have got 
 a little cracker, you can pound it with sweet marjoram. 
 We think that makes better stuffing, in our country, 
 than bread and onions do. ' ' This last she said very loud, 
 from the fear that it might not be entirely intelligible. 
 
 Mrs. Serz looked with amazement at the turkey, 
 wiped her hands and " hefted" him, and said : 
 
 ' ' Dankc, danke. ' ' 
 
 " I say without onions. Onions are better with 
 geese. But I put in this little paper of sweet marjoram. 
 It is some I brought from Tuxbury. " This last very 
 loud, as Mrs. Serz seemed somewhat doubtful. 
 
 <4 Danke, danke " said that lady again. 
 
 And Hepsy withdrew. Larry followed, crestfallen. 
 Why did she say " Donkey," he asked Miss Hepsy, 
 meekly. But Miss Hepsy returned no answer. 
 
196 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 " Larry," said she, after a little consideration, " we 
 must go next to Phil Regan's ; and then we will come 
 back by Suffolk Street, to them Eyetallians. " 
 
 To Phil Regan's attic they repaired, therefore. Phil 
 was not at home. He was blacking shoes at the 
 Albany Station. But Phil's smart little sister Florence 
 was in, and the other two little ones. No school. So 
 Hepsy took off her bonnet and shawl, mixed the 
 cracker crumbs to suit herself, and explained carefully 
 to Florence how she wished to have the turkey basted, 
 and with her own hands put it into the pan and put 
 the pan into the oven, giving Florence strict directions 
 how to tend it and watch over it till Phil returned. 
 Brave Phil Regan, the head of that household ! I 
 wonder where he is to-day, and whether he will read 
 this. He was just then fourteen years old. 
 
 At the Eyetallians much such a scene transpired as at 
 Mrs. Serz's, Hepsy being wholly ignorant of any dialect 
 of the Tuscan tongue ; and the Eyetallians, who had 
 come on from New York only ten days before, equally 
 ignorant of English. But there was no misunderstand 
 ing Miss Hepsy's kindness of intention ; and as she 
 spoke very loud here, it is to be hoped that the 
 Eyetallians understood the greater part of her direc 
 tions to them. Anyway, the two women, with many 
 "grazie," took the turkey as gently as if it had been a 
 baby, and Hepsy, in a thorough examination of the 
 attic, well-nigh empty, was soon satisfied that no one 
 had been before her there. Nay, she even wondered 
 whether in the calendar of these poor Roman Catholics 
 the name of " Thanksgiving" had ever come in before. 
 But by mentioning it sufficiently loudly she felt sure 
 that she should fix it in their minds. 
 
 As they went back toward Lucas Street, Larry 
 
HEPZIBAH'S TVRKEYS. 
 
 197 
 
 following behind, a carriage, driving fast, passed 
 them. 
 
 " Miss Hepsy, Miss Hepsy !" cried Larry, out of 
 breath. " Sure as I live, there's your mother goin* 
 to ride." 
 
 44 Nonsense, Larry. None of your stuff. " 
 
 44 I say, Miss Hepsy, it was your mother, sure as 
 I live and breathe." 
 
 44 Hold your tongue, Larry." 
 
 And he held it. 
 
 But when Hepsy had climbed the stairway to her 
 own home, sure enough the bird had flown. Mrs. 
 Brown was not there. Nobody was there. 
 
 Hepsy ran into the bedroom in a fright. No mother 
 there. She came back to Larry, and questioned him. 
 He was stanch in saying that the old lady was in the 
 kerridge. 
 
 Hepsy returned amazed to the sitting-room which 
 her mother had not left without her for five years 
 and more. 
 
 As she entered it by one door, the door to the back 
 passage opened also, and two fresh, pretty girls came 
 out, one bearing Miss Maria's turkey in state, and the 
 other following with a dredging-box and an armful of 
 other cooking tools. 
 
 44 O Hepsy, you have caught us. That's too bad !" 
 
 And they all laughed heartily. 
 
 It was Ruth Faxon and Fanny Melcher. They had 
 come round with Mrs. Granger, resolved to make Mrs. 
 Brown and Hepsy go off to meeting, while they cooked 
 the turkey. Hepsy was to be free from care that day, 
 if it could be managed. 
 
 44 And now, you provoking old thing, you went and 
 stayed out till the bell had done tolling, and you have 
 
198 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 spoiled all. But we dressed up your dear old mother, 
 and Mrs. Granger has carried her away ; and don't you 
 think, Hepsy, now, that you had better go, too, and 
 tell us what the text is?" 
 
 " Fiddlestick for the text," said Hepsy, hanging up 
 her go-to-meeting shawl and bonnet in her chamber, 
 and coming out with her sleeves rolled up, as if she, 
 too, were going into action. 
 
 'What do you mean by interfering with other 
 people's work?" said Fanny ; and she took her fast 
 by both arms and pushed her back into her mother's 
 deep arm-chair. 
 
 ' There, you provoking old thing, if you do mean 
 to stay and spy on us, sit there, and see if we do not 
 know how to do it right. You are a fine lady to-day, 
 just recovering from a fit of neuralgia, and you have just 
 stepped into your kitchen for a minute, to see if these 
 two girls, that have just come down from Nova Scotia 
 and want a place together, know beans or not. Oh 
 dear ! I have not had such a lark since we were all at 
 the Winthrop together !" 
 
 The Winthrop, dear Matilda, was not a hotel, but a 
 school, where these three girls had studied arithmetic, 
 side by side, under Miss Barry's eye, when they were 
 all fourteen years old. 
 
 And a genuine lark they had of it. Neatly and 
 deftly these two girls prepared and baked the turkey, 
 boiled the squash, baked the potatoes, thickened the 
 gravy, sweetened the cranberry to Hepsy's taste, and, 
 in short, made all things ready for the dinner. They 
 asked her for her orders sometimes ; but when she 
 herself undertook to do anything one or other of them 
 pushed her back into the easy- chair. Ruth gave her 
 
HEPZIBAirS TURKEYS. 199 
 
 a smelling-bottle, which she raked out from a deep 
 pocket, and folded a New York Ledger into a great 
 fan, and made her hold the fan in one hand and salts in 
 the other. Hepsy entered into the joke as much as 
 they did, and took airs admirably well. 
 
 By the time Mrs. Brown had come home, the dinner 
 was cooked, the table was neatly set, and every 
 thing was ready. 
 
 " Hepsy," said the old lady, " come here." And 
 she whispered to her daughter. 
 
 Hepsy laughed, and said openly to the girls that her 
 mother was so much pleased with the festivity, that 
 she wanted to bring out her silver spoons. And, sure 
 enough, the six teaspoons and the six tablespoons were 
 produced from the old lady's trunk the one wreck 
 from old prosperity. 
 
 " I do not choose to use them every day," said 
 Hepsy, laughing, *' we have such queer people round 
 us. But to-day mammy feels grand." 
 
 And then the two girls went away, only feeling a 
 little dashed, as pretty Ruth Faxon confessed to me, 
 that they left the two all alone. 
 
 The minute they were gone, before dinner began, 
 Hepsy dashed into the back entry and seized turkey 
 No. 6, which Fanny had left all dressed and ready for 
 the oven, put him in a pan, and slid it into the stove. 
 " I'm not going to waste this good fire," said she. 
 " And I like a cold turkey about as well as I do a warm 
 one. This will do for Sunday's dinner." 
 
 The old lady said that, of the two, she was not sure 
 but sometimes she liked a cold turkey better than a 
 warm one. Just now she was glad they had a hot one. 
 The opinion, you see, was rather a difficult one to 
 
300 OUR CHRISTMAS IX A PALACE. 
 
 form and to express. But Mrs. Brown had long ex 
 perience in contentedness. Turkey No. 6 being well 
 slid into the oven, dinner began. 
 
 But scarcely had Hepzibah begun her carving when 
 steps were heard on the stairs, which indicated a 
 party. 
 
 " I guess Miss Meldrum has company," said she. 
 
 No. It was not Miss Meldrum. 
 
 Knock at the door double knock. 
 
 "Well, I never!" said tht old lady. "'Nother 
 turkey, Hepsy ?" 
 
 For Mrs. Brown was up to joking-mark now. Hepsy 
 opened the door. 
 
 " Well now !" " How do you do ?" " And how 
 do you do?" "Well! what luck !" "Who'd a 
 thought it?" " And there's your mother." " How 
 d ye do, Aunt Rachel ?" " But who is it ?" " Well, 
 now !" " Well, now !" Scatter these ejaculations as 
 you please, and you get the interview. They were 
 cousins of Hepzibah's, whom she had not seen for 
 fifteen years. They were on their way from New 
 York to Cape Elizabeth, to dine at Hepsy's uncle. 
 Boat was delayed, and they had missed their train. 
 Thought they would hunt up Hepsy and take theif 
 Thanksgiving dinner with her, and so go on in the 
 night boat to Portland. 
 
 Not unprosperous cousins, you see. Cousins who 
 had no idea that Hepsy and her mother were uncom 
 fortably near the wall. Cousins for whom Hepsy had 
 a certain respect, and she would have hated to have 
 them know her scrapings and worries. 
 
 " And here they come in, Mr. Hale, as nice and neat 
 as pins ; and though I say it, who should not, Mr. 
 Hale, we was just as nice as they was. Mother, she 
 
HEPZIBAH'S^TURKE VS. 201 
 
 did look real nice, Mr. Hale ; real handsome she looked, 
 with her cap on. And the table was so pretty with 
 Miss Granger's flowers, and the silver, and all. I did 
 not care who they were ; my dinner was as good as 
 theirs any day. So they washed themselves and fixed 
 their hair, and sat down, all three of them, they did. 
 And we had a nice time, I tell you." 
 
 Hepsy did not tell me one little incident of the 
 dinner ; but Mrs. Meldrum did. 
 
 As they were finishing Mrs. Cradock's pies, drink 
 ing their tea, and fooling with their nuts and raisins, 
 little Katy Meldrum came in. 
 
 11 Please, Miss Hepsy, mother says will you lend 
 her a little tea?" 
 
 " Heart's grace, Katy. Of course, I will. Why, 
 Katy, you look cold." 
 
 Katy whispered that they had nothing but a little 
 kindling. 
 
 "No coal? Poor child ! Cousin Hannah, excuse 
 me." 
 
 And Hepsy went into the entry and carried up a hod 
 of coal to the stricken widow up-stairs. 
 
 " Do you think," she said, as she came down, " they 
 was all sitting round freezing, and Miss Meldrum just 
 lighting some laths the boys had brought in from the 
 new school-house. And they've nothing for their 
 dinner but some bread and cheese that look as if it was 
 cut last Sunday. Here, Tom, you come in. Come 
 in, Katy." 
 
 And she opened her oven door, and with the tongs 
 pulled out No. 6, and placed the pan on a stout paper 
 in her clothes-basket. 
 
 " Tom, you take one end. Katy, you take one. 
 Tell your mother I've been cooking her dinner for 
 
202 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 her, only I was a little belated by company. Katy, 
 come down again. Here's plenty of squash pie and 
 two or three pertaters left. To think," said Hepsy, as 
 she sat down a little flustered " to think of plenty and 
 hunger being so close to each other. I thought Mr. 
 Fosdick had taken the Meldrums some dinner." 
 
 And then the feast went on with the three cousins, 
 as if this were all an every-day occurrence. They went 
 to their graves with the idea that Hepsy was living on 
 the fat of the land. And, if any one thing delighted 
 Hepsy more than another in that day's Thanksgiving, 
 it was that her cousins thought so. 
 
 Among them they brought Miss Maria's turkey near 
 his end ; but Hepsy told me that he made a very good 
 dinner on Friday. 
 
 It may add to the interest with which this little story 
 is read for me to say that it is substantially true in all 
 its details. 
 
 The Independent asked me near a year ago to furnish 
 a story of true life from my ministerial experience. 
 On such stories there is apt to be a seal of confidence. 
 But I do not see that any of the parties whom, under 
 fictitious names, I have mentioned here, has reason to 
 be ashamed of his part in the day, always excepting 
 Mike Flannagan. 
 
 I have lost the run of him ; but I trust that he has 
 taken Father Mathew's medal and has reformed. 
 
 And so poor Mrs. Frechette's turn came round 
 again. 
 
 The pitiless Hector, a little recovered, so soon as 
 
AN INTERMISSION. 203 
 
 there had been a reasonable pause after his wife's story, 
 turned, as if surprised, to the programme, and read : 
 
 " Six. Mrs. Frechette will read an essay." 
 
 She was ready for him again. " I observe with 
 pleasure," she said, " that nothing is said about the 
 essay being original. I had proposed to read, therefore, 
 Lord Bacon's ' Essay on Gardening,' which seems very 
 appropriate here. But talking with Mr. Hackmatack at 
 breakfast, I have found that he had with him a curious 
 discussion by his friend, Mr. Ingham, which he has lent 
 me, as a substitute for that paper. I would read it 
 now, but my friend Caesar tells me that the Christmas 
 dinner is ready, to which all our friends present are 
 invited." 
 
 Sure enough, it was two o'clock already. With a 
 little crowding, the whole party of passengers collected 
 in the dinner car, and the dinner went forward, really 
 much as was proposed in Hector's rodomontade of the 
 bill of fare. 
 
 And without, steady snow snow snow, quiet drift 
 drift drift. Half the engine was buried now. A 
 mountain was before it. The shovellers had given up 
 a useless duty. One or two of them were in the 
 plough. The rest clustered in the forward car or with 
 us. For all for whom there was not room in the 
 dinner car, Hector took care that one and another sub 
 stantial dish should be sent forward from the table. 
 
 And the party sang, and laughed, and chatted, and 
 ate, and drank at their little tables, till, in spite of 
 them, the day began to darken. It was half-past four. 
 
 " One last song," cried Hector. " I will sing you 
 a song of one of Mrs. Frechette's Tory ancestors." 
 And he sang the old version of the " British 
 Genadiers." 
 
204 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 *' Come, come, fill up your glasses, 
 
 And drink a health to those 
 Who carry caps and pouches 
 
 And wear their looped clothes ; 
 For be you Whig or Tory, 
 
 Or any mortal thing, 
 Be sure that you give glory 
 
 To George, our gracious King !" 
 
 " That's what they sang at your Uncle Tracy's, 
 madam. I wish you would take one more glass of 
 anise-seed." 
 
 And so they slowly walked forward one by one from 
 the car. 
 
 44 Stay a moment, please," said Paul Decker to 
 Theodora Bourn, as she folded her napkin and stood, 
 as the stream passed by her. 
 
 " Please sit down a moment. I want to explain to 
 you what I meant about learned women, when we were 
 talking of Mrs. Browning. My you know of course 
 I should not say well, my own mother how I wish 
 you knew my mother, you would like her so ; she 
 is as learned a woman as Lady Jane Grey she taught 
 me all my Greek when I went to college and she 
 keeps up with everything and she is oh, she is so 
 lovely." 
 
 " O Mr. Decker, I understood you, I am sure. 
 We all know that nobody has too much learning. 
 Poor I ought to, who never saw the inside of a school- 
 house till I was sixteen." 
 
 " Worse things can happen than that, I am sure," 
 said he eagerly. " What I was driving at, when I 
 blundered so, was that I do think book people are apt 
 to get lonely, perhaps a little bit selfish. My old 
 
AN INTERMISSION. 205 
 
 mentor- used to say ' self-culture ' was for the devil. 
 Well now, you don't know, I do not suppose women 
 can. But I have known well in camp I have known 
 plenty of men whose books spoiled them. They 
 could not speak a good word to a greaser or a 
 ranchero. The men hated them, and no wonder. 
 Yet they did not mean to be bad." 
 
 ' They could not bear each other's burdens." 
 "Just so, and so in the end they could not bear 
 their own ; or, rather, nobody would give them any 
 to bear." 
 
 " I know," said Theodora, " I know. I have seen 
 just such people. There was a man in Sacramento 
 but no matter for him. I so wish you had known my 
 dear mother. She had oh, she had everything on 
 her shoulders but really, Mr. Decker, if any living 
 being came into the room where she was, she would 
 lay down her book or lay down her work, and pre 
 tend she was doing nothing, till she could make sure 
 you did not want her that she could not sew for you, 
 or write for you, or read to you, or comfort you. She 
 did not know how to think of herself." 
 
 " And that is the secret of it all," he said, so eagerly. 
 "And when we come to that, it all comes so 
 clear" 
 
 And so they went on strangers no longer now with 
 a boy's discoveries and now a girl's of the mysteries of 
 life, revenging themselves for the loneliness of these 
 months that had been grinding by, in the satisfaction 
 what is like it ? of finding some one who has gone 
 through something of the same desolation each eager 
 to find if the. other had known this joy or that sorrow, 
 and each finding out, almost with wonder, that this 
 experience or that of life, which had seemed peculiar 
 
206 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 and quite without precedent, was an experience which 
 the other knew. 
 
 They had sat there talking for more than an hour, 
 when they heard singing from the palace car, and 
 Theodora started. ' We are staying here quite too 
 long." 
 
 But Paul Decker did not think so. 
 
 He almost lifted her across the snowy platform. 
 
 " You cannot be too careful here." 
 
 Mrs. Frechette and Professor Wisner, after they 
 found each other out, had come into loyal alliance. 
 
 Hector had fired at random his announcement of 
 ''Prayer from Moses in Egypt." It seemed well 
 enough for wanderers in a desert, and that was all he 
 had thought of. But Mrs. Frechette knew the music 
 indeed, the professor had the opera in print in his 
 trunk and while the others slept, or pretended to, 
 after dinner, he had rallied an efficient quartette in the 
 baggage car, so that when the indomitable Hector 
 called to order, Dr. Wisner interrupted him to say : 
 
 " We propose here and now to introduce the 
 celebrated prayer from Moses, which is the seventh 
 number on the programme." And they so sang that 
 magnificent chorus, that again every man and woman 
 felt that the form of the celebration was not leading 
 them from the genuine trust of Christmas day. 
 
 Van Sandfoord himself thanked them in the name 
 of the assembly, most seriously and courteously, and 
 then said, without banter now, " I think we are 
 promised an essay by Mr. Hackmatack." 
 
 "Hardly," said George, "though the paper 
 describes an essay or enterprise or experiment in my 
 life. In truth, I did not write it. But it may be relied 
 on, as if I had written it. It was all written out by a 
 
IDEALS. 207 
 
 * 
 
 friend of mine, and Dr. Wisner is so kind as to read it 
 as he put it down." 
 
 So Professor Wisner read the story of 
 
 IDEALS. 
 
 I. IN ACCOUNT. 
 
 I have a little circle of friends, among all my other 
 friends quite distinct, though of them. They are four 
 men and four women ; the husbands more in love with 
 their wives than on the days when they married them, 
 and the wives with their husbands. These people live 
 for the good of the world, to a fair extent, but much, 
 very much, of their lives is passed together. Perhaps 
 the happiest period they ever knew was when, in dif 
 ferent subordinate capacities, they were all on the staff 
 of the same magazine. Then they met daily at the 
 office, lunched together perforce, and could make 
 arrangements for the evening. 
 
 But, tD say true, things differ little with them now, 
 though that magazine long since took wings and went 
 to a better world. 
 
 Their names are Felix and Fausta Carter, Frederic 
 and Mary Ingham, George and Anna Haliburton, 
 George and Julia Hackmatack. 
 
 I get the children's names wrong to their faces 
 except that in general their name is Legion, for they 
 are many so I will not attempt them here. 
 
 These people live in very different houses, with very 
 different " advantages," as the world says. Halibur 
 ton has grown very rich in the rag and paper business, 
 rich enough to discard rag money and believe in gold. 
 He even spits at silver, which I am glad to get when 
 I can. Frederic Ingham will never be rich. His 
 regular income consists in his half-pay as a retired 
 
208 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 brevet officer in the patriot service of Garibaldi of the 
 year 1859. For the rest, he invested his money in the 
 Brick Moon, and, as I need hardly add, insured his life 
 in the late Continental Insurance Company. But the 
 Inghams find just as much in life as do the Haliburtons, 
 and Anna Haliburton consults Polly Ingham about the 
 shade of a flounce, just as readily and as eagerly as 
 Polly consults her about the children's dentistry. They 
 are all very fond of each other. 
 
 They get a great deal out of life, these eight, partly 
 because they are so closely allied together. Just two 
 whist parties, you see ; or, if they go to ride, they just 
 fill two carriages. Eight is such a good number makes 
 such a nice dinner party. Perhaps they see a little too 
 much of each other. That we shall never know. 
 
 They got a great deal out of life, and yet they were 
 not satisfied. They found that out very queerly. They 
 have not many standards. Ingham does take the Spec 
 tator ; Hackmatack condescends to read the Times ; 
 Haliburton, who used to be in the insurance busi 
 ness, and keeps his old extravagant habits, reads both 
 the Advertiser and the Transcript ; all of them have 
 the Christian Union, and all of them buy Harper 's 
 Weekly. Every separate week of their lives they buy 
 of the boys, instead of subscribing ; they think they 
 may not want the next number, but they always do. 
 Not one of them has read the Nation for five years, 
 for they like to keep good-natured. In fact, they do 
 not take much stock in the general organs of opinion, 
 and the only standard books you find about are 
 scandalously few. The Bible, Shakespeare, John Mil 
 ton; Polly has Dante ; Julia has " Barclay's Apology," 
 with ever so many marks in it ; one George has " Owen 
 Felltham," and the other is strong on Marcus Aurelius, 
 
WEALS. 
 
 209 
 
 Well, no matter about these separate things ; the uni 
 form books besides those I named, in different editions, 
 but in every house, are the " Arabian Nights" and 
 " ROBINSON CRUSOE." Hackmatack has the priceless 
 first edition. Haliburton has Grandville's (the English 
 Grandville). Ingham has a proof copy of the Stothard. 
 Carter has a good copy of the Cruikshank. 
 
 If you ask me which of these four I should like best, 
 I should say, as the American Laureate did when they 
 gave him his choice of two kinds of cake : 
 
 ' ' Both's as good as one. ' ' 
 
 Well, " Robinson Crusoe" being their lay gospel and 
 creed, not to say epistle and psalter, it was not queer 
 that one night, when the election had gone awfully, 
 and the men were as blue as that little porcelain Osiris 
 of mine yonder, who is so blue that he cannot stand 
 on his feet it was not queer, I say, that they turned 
 instinctively to " Robinson Crusoe" for relief. 
 
 Now, Robinson Crusoe was once in a very bad box 
 indeed, and to comfort himself as well as he could, 
 and to set the good against the evil, that he might 
 have something to distinguish his case from worse, he 
 stated impartially, like debtor and creditor, the com 
 forts and miseries, thus : 
 
 Evil. Good. 
 
 I am cast upon a horrible deso- But I am alive.and not drowned 
 late island, void of all hope of as all my ship's company were, 
 recovery. 
 
 I am singled out and sepa- But I am singled out, too, 
 rated, as it were, from all the from the ship's crew to be spared 
 world, to be miserable. from death. 
 
 And so the debtor and creditor account goes on. 
 
 Julia Hackmatack read this aloud to them the 
 whole of it and they agreed, as Robinson says, not so 
 much for their posterity as to keep their thoughts 
 
210 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 from daily poring on their trials, that for each family 
 they would make such a balance. What might not 
 come of it ? Perhaps a partial, nay, perhaps a perfect, 
 cure ! 
 
 So they determined that on the instant they would 
 go to work, and thus two in the smoking-room, two in 
 the dining-room, two in George's study, and two in 
 the parlor, they should in the next half hour make up 
 their lists of good and evil. Here are the results : 
 
 FREDERIC AND MARY INGHAM. 
 
 Good. Evil. 
 
 We have three nice boys and But the door-bell rings all the 
 three nice girls. time. 
 
 We have enough to eat, drink, But the coal bill is awful, and 
 
 and wear. the Larrabee furnace has given 
 
 out. The firm that made it has 
 gone up, and no castings can be 
 had to mend it. 
 
 We have more books than we But our friends borrow our 
 can read, and do not care to read books, and only return odd 
 many newspapers. volumes. 
 
 We have many very dear But we are behindhand 143 
 friends enough. names on our lists of calls. 
 
 We have health in our family. But the children may be sick. 
 
 The Lowndes children are. 
 
 We seem to be of some use in But Mrs. Hogarth has left Fred 
 the world. $200 for the poor, and he is 
 
 afraid he shall spend it wrong. 
 
 The country has gone to the 
 dogs. 
 
 GEORGE AND ANNA HALIBURTON. 
 
 Good. Evil. 
 
 We have a nice home in town, You cannot give a cup of 
 
 and one in Sharon, and a sea- coffee to a beggar but he sends 
 
 shore place at Little Gau, and we five hundred million tramps to 
 
 have friends enough to fill them. the door. 
 
 We have some of the nicest A great many people call 
 children in the world. whose names we have forgotten. 
 
IDEALS. 
 
 211 
 
 Good. 
 
 We have enough to do, and 
 not too much. 
 
 Business is good enough, 
 though complaining. 
 
 The children are all well. 
 
 Evil 
 
 We have to give a party to all 
 our acquaintance every year. 
 which is horrid. 
 
 We do not do anything we 
 want to do, and we do a great 
 deal that we do not want to do. 
 George had added, "And there 
 is no help in us." But Anna 
 marked that out as wicked. 
 
 People vote as if they were 
 
 possessed. 
 
 GEORGE AND JULIA HACKMATACK. 
 
 Good. 
 
 We have eight splendid chil 
 dren. 
 
 We have money enough, 
 though we know what to do with 
 more. 
 
 George will not have to go to 
 Bahia next year. 
 
 Tom got through with scarlet 
 fever without being deaf. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon has accepted 
 the presidency of Tiberias Col 
 lege in Alaska. 
 
 Evil. 
 
 The plumbers' work always 
 gives way at the wrong time, and 
 the plumbers' bills are awful. 
 
 The furnace will not heat the 
 house unless the wind is at the 
 southwest. None of the chim 
 neys draw well. 
 
 We hate the Kydd School. 
 The master drinks and the first 
 assistant lies. But we live in 
 that district ; so the boys have to 
 go there. 
 
 Lucy said " commence " yester 
 day, Jane said "gent," Walter 
 said "bully for you," and Alice 
 said "nobby." And what is 
 coming we do not know. 
 
 How long any man can live 
 under this government I do not 
 know. 
 
 FELIX AND FAUSTA CARTER. 
 
 Good. 
 
 Governments are stronger 
 every year. Money goes farther 
 than it did. 
 
 All the boys are good and 
 well. So are the girls. They 
 are splendid children. 
 
 Evil. 
 
 But as the children grow 
 bigger, their clothes cost more. 
 
 But the children get no good 
 at school, except measles, 
 whooping-cough, and scarlet 
 fever. 
 
212 OUR CHRISTMAS tN A PALACE. 
 
 Good. Evil. 
 
 Old Mr. Porter died last But the gas-meter lies; and 
 
 week, and Felix gets promotion the gas company wants to have 
 in the office. it lie. 
 
 The lost volume of F ; chte was But the Athenaeum is always 
 
 left on the door-step last night calling in its books to examine 
 
 by some one who rang the bell them, and making us say where 
 
 and ran away. It is rather wet, Mr. Fred Curtis's books arc. 
 
 but when it is bound will look As if we cared, 
 nicely. 
 
 The mistress of the Arabella But our drains smell awfully, 
 School is dead. though the Board of Health says 
 
 they do not. 
 
 We have to go to evening par 
 ties among our friends, or seem 
 stuck up. We hate to go, and 
 wish there were none. We had 
 rather come here. 
 
 The increasing worthlessness 
 of the franchise. 
 
 With these papers they gathered all in the study just 
 as the clock struck nine, and, in good old Boston fashion, 
 Silas was bringing in some hot oysters. They ate the 
 oysters, which were good trust Anna for that and 
 then the women read the papers, while the smoking 
 men smoked and pondered. 
 
 They all recognized the gravity of the situation. 
 Still, as Julia said, they felt better already. It was 
 like having the doctor come ; you knew the worst, and 
 could make ready for it. 
 
 They did not discuss the statements much. They 
 had discussed them too much in severalty. They did 
 agree that they should be left to Felix to report 
 upon the next evening. He was, so to speak, to post 
 them, to strike out from each side the quantities which 
 could be eliminated, and leave the equations so sim 
 plified that the eight might determine what they should 
 do about it -indeed, what they could do about it. 
 
 The visitors put on their " things" how strange 
 
IDE A &S. 213 
 
 that that word should once have meant ' ' parliaments ! ' ' 
 kissed good-by so far as they were womanly, and 
 went home. George Haliburton screwed down the 
 gas, and he and his wife went to bed. 
 
 II. STRIKING THE BALANCE. 
 
 The next night they went to see Warren at the 
 Museum. That probably helped them. After the 
 play they met by appointment at the Carters'. Felix 
 
 read his 
 
 Report. 
 
 1 . NUMBER. There are twenty-one reasons for congratulation, 
 twenty-four for regret. But of the twenty-four, four are the 
 same, namely, the accursed political prospect of the country. 
 Counting that as one only, there are twenty-one on each side. 
 
 2. EVIL. The twenty-one evils may be classified thus : politi 
 cal, i ; social, 12 ; physical, 5 ; terrors, 3. 
 
 All the physical evils would be relieved by living in a tem 
 perate climate, instead of this abomination, which is not a 
 climate, to which our ancestors were sold by the cupidity of the 
 Dutch. 
 
 The political evil would be ended by leaving the jurisdiction 
 of the United States. 
 
 The social evils, which are a majority of all, would be reduced 
 by residence in any place where there were not so many people. 
 
 The terrors properly belong to all the classes. In a decent 
 climate, in a country not governed by its vices, and a community 
 not crowded, the three terrors would be materially abated, if not 
 put to an end. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, FELIX CARTER. 
 
 How they discussed it now ! Talk ? I think so ! 
 They all talked awhile, and no one listened. But 
 they had to stop when Phenice brought in the Welsh 
 rare-bit (good before bed, but a little indigestible, un 
 less your conscience is stainless), and Felix then put 
 in a word. 
 
214 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 " Now I tell you, this is not nonsense. Why not do 
 what Winslow and Standish and those fellows thought 
 they were doing when they sailed ? Why not go to a 
 climate like France, with milder winters and cooler 
 summers than here ? You want some winter, you want 
 some summer." 
 
 " I hate centipedes and scorpions," said Anna. 
 1 There's no need of them. There's a place in 
 Mexico, not a hundred miles from the sea, where you 
 can have your temperature just as you like." 
 
 "Stuff!" 
 
 11 No, it is not stuff at all," said poor Felix, eagerly. 
 " I do not mean just one spot. But you live in this 
 valley, you know. If you find it is growing hot, you 
 move about a quarter of a mile to a another place 
 higher up. If you find that hot, why you have 
 another house a little higher. Don't you see ? Then, 
 when winter comes, you move down." 
 
 " Are there many people there ?" asked Haliburton ; 
 " and do they make many calls ?" 
 
 ' There are a good many people, but they are a 
 gentle set. They never quarrel. They are a little too 
 high up for the revolutions, and there is something 
 tranquillizing about the place ; they seldom die, none 
 are sick, they need no aguardiente, do what the head 
 of the village tells them to do only he never has any 
 occasion to tell them. They never make calls." 
 
 " I like that," said Ingham. ' That patriarchal 
 system is the true system of government. ' ' 
 
 "Where is this place?" said Anna, incredulously. 
 
 " I have been trying to remember all day, but I can't. 
 It is in Mexico, I know. It is on this side of Mexico. 
 It tells all about it in an old Harper oh, a good many 
 years ago but I never bound mine ; there are always 
 
IDEALS. 215 
 
 one or two missing every year. I asked Fausta to look 
 for it, but she was busy. I thought," continued poor 
 Felix, a little crestfallen, " one of you might remem 
 ber." 
 
 No, nobody remembered ; and nobody felt much 
 like going to the public library to look, on Carter's 
 rather vague indications. In fact, it was a suggestion 
 of Haliburton's which proved more popular. 
 
 Haliburton said he had not laid in his coal. They 
 all said the same. " Now," said he, " the coal of this 
 crowd for this winter will cost a thousand dollars, if 
 you add in the kindling and the matches, and patching 
 the furnace pots and sweeping the chimneys." 
 
 To this they agreed. 
 
 4 ' It is now Wednesday. Let us start Saturday for 
 Memphis, take a cheap boat to New Orleans, go 
 thence to Vera Cruz by steamer, explore the ground, 
 buy the houses if we like, and return by the time we 
 can do without fires next spring. Our board will 
 cost less than it would here, for it is there the beef 
 comes from. And the thousand dollars will pay the 
 fares both ways. ' ' 
 
 The women, with one voice, cried, "And the chil 
 dren ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," cried the eager adventurer. " I had 
 forgotten the children. Well, they are all well, are they 
 not?" 
 
 Yes ; all were well. 
 
 ' Then we will take them with us as far as Yellow 
 Springs, in Ohio, and leave them for the fall and 
 winter terms at Antioch College. They will be 
 enough better taught than they are at the Kydd 
 School, and they will get no scarlet fever. Nobody is 
 ever sick there. They will be better cared for than my 
 
2l6 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 children are when they are left to me, and they will be 
 seven hundred miles nearer to us than if they were 
 here. The little ones can go to the Model Schools, the 
 middling ones to the Academy, and the oldest can go 
 to college. How many are there, Felix ?" 
 
 Felix said there were twenty-nine. 
 
 "Well," said the arithmetical George, "it is the 
 cheapest place I ever knew. Why, their seniors get 
 along for three hundred dollars a year, and squeeze 
 more out of life than I do out of twenty thousand. 
 The little ones won't cost at that rate. A hundred 
 and fifty dollars for twenty-nine children for six 
 months ; how much is that, Polly?" 
 
 " Forty-three hundred and fifty dollars, of course," 
 said she. 
 
 " I thought so. Well, don't you see, we shall save 
 that in wages to these servants we are boarding here, 
 of whom there are eleven, who cost us, say, six dollars 
 a week ; that is, sixty-six dollars for twenty weeks is 
 thirteen hundred and twenty dollars. We won't buy 
 any clothes, but live on the old ones, and make the 
 children wear their big brothers' and sisters'. There's 
 a saving of thirty-seven hundred dollars for thirty- 
 seven of us. Why, we shall make money ! I tell 
 you what, if you'll do it, I'll pay all the bills till we 
 come home. If you like, you shall then each pay me 
 three-quarters of your last winter's accounts, and I'll 
 charge any difference to profit and loss. But I shall 
 make by the bargain." 
 
 The women doubted if they could be ready. But it 
 proved they could. Still they did not start Saturday ; 
 they started Monday, in two palace-cars. They left 
 the children, all delighted with the change, at Antioch 
 on Wednesday a little tempted to spend the winter 
 
IDEALS. 217 
 
 there themselves ; but, this temptation well resisted, 
 they sped on to Mexico. 
 
 III. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Such a tranquil three days on the Mississippi, which 
 was on an autumn flood, and revealed himself as in 
 deed King of Waters ! Such delightful three days in 
 hospitable New Orleans ! Might it not be possible to 
 tarry even here ? " No," cried the inexorable George. 
 11 We have put our hand to the plough. Who will 
 turn back ?" Two days of abject wetchedness on the 
 Gulf of Mexico. ' Why were we born ? Why did 
 we not die before we left solid land ?" And then the 
 light-house at Vera Cruz. 
 
 " Lo, land ! and all was well." 
 
 What a splendid city ! Why had nobody told them 
 of this queen on the sea-shore ? Red and white 
 towers, cupolas, battlements ! It was all like a story 
 book. When they landed, to be sure it was not quite 
 so big a place as they had fancied from all this show ; 
 but for this they did not care. To land that was 
 enough. Had they landed on a sand spit they would 
 have been in heaven. No more swaying to and fro as 
 they lay in bed ; no more stumbling to and fro as they 
 walked. They refused the amazed Mexicans who 
 wanted them to ride to the hotel. To walk steadily 
 was in itself a luxury. 
 
 And then, it was not long before the men had 
 selected the little caravan of horses and mules which 
 were to carry them on their expedition of discovery. 
 Some valley of paradise, where a man could change 
 his climate from midwinter to midsummer by a journey 
 
2l8 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE, 
 
 of a mile. Did the consul happen to have heard ol 
 any such valley ? 
 
 Had he heard of them ? He had heard of fifty. He 
 had not, indeed, heard of much else. How could he 
 help hearing of them ? 
 
 Could the consul, then, recommend one or two 
 valleys which might be for sale ? Or was it, perhaps, 
 impossible to buy a foothold in such an Eden ? 
 
 For sale ! There was nothing in the country, so far 
 as the friend knew to whom the consul presented 
 them, which was not for sale. Anywhere in Queretaro ; 
 or why should they not go to the Baxio ? No ; that 
 was too flat and too far off. There were pretty places 
 round Xalapa. Oh, plenty of plantations for sale ! 
 But they need not go so far. Anywhere on the rise 
 of Chiquihiti. 
 
 Was the friend quite sure that there were no 
 plumbers in the regions he named ? 
 
 " Never a plumber in Mexico." 
 
 Any life-insurance men ? 
 
 "Not one." The prudent friend did not add, 
 4 'Risk too high." 
 
 Were the public schools graded schools or district 
 schools ? 
 
 " Not a public school in six provinces." 
 
 "Would the neighbors be offended if we did not 
 call?" 
 
 " Cut your throats if you did." 
 
 Did the friend think there would be many 
 tramps ? 
 
 The friend seemed more doubtful here, but suggested 
 that the occasional use of a six-shooter reduced the 
 number, and gave a certain reputation to the prem 
 ises where it was employed, which diminished much 
 
IDEALS. 2IQ 
 
 tramping afterward, and he said that the law did not 
 object to this method. 
 
 They returned to a dinner of fish, for which Vera 
 Cruz is celebrated. " If what this man says be true," 
 said Ingham, " we must be very near heaven." 
 
 It was now in November. Oh, the glory of that 
 ride, as they left Vera Cruz and, through a wilderness 
 of color, jogged slowly on to their new paradise ! 
 
 " Through Eden four glad couples took their way." 
 
 Higher and higher. This wonder and that. Not a 
 blade of grass such as they ever saw before, not a 
 chirping cricket such as they ever heard before, a 
 hundred bright-winged birds, and not one that they 
 had ever seen before. Higher and higher. Trees, 
 skies, clouds, flowers, beasts, birds, insects, all new 
 and all lovely. 
 
 The final purchase was of one small plantation, with 
 a house large enough for a little army, yet without 
 a stair. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, mangoes, 
 bananas, pineapples, coffee, sugar what did not ripen 
 in those perennial gardens ? Half a mile above there 
 were two smaller houses belonging to the same estate ; 
 half a mile above, another was purchased easily. This 
 was too cold to stay in in November, but in June and 
 July and August the temperature would be sixty-six, 
 without change. 
 
 They sent back the mules. A telegram from Vera 
 Cruz brought from Boston, in fifteen days, the best 
 books in the world, the best piano in the world, a 
 few boxes of colors for the artists, a few reams of 
 paper, and a few dozens of pencils for the men. 
 And then began four months of blessed life. Never 
 a gas bill nor a water leak, never a crack in the 
 
220 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 furnace, never a man to put in coal, never a request 
 to speak for the benefit of the Fenians, never the 
 necessity of attending at a primary meeting. The 
 ladies found in their walks these gentle Mexican chil 
 dren, simple, happy, civil, and with the strange idea 
 that the object for which life is given is that men may 
 live. They came home with new wealth untold every 
 day of ipomcea, convolvulus, passion-flowers, and 
 orchids. The gentlemen brought back every day a 
 new species, even a new genus a new illustration of 
 evolution or a new mystery to be accounted for by the 
 law of natural selection. Night was all sleep ; day was 
 all life. Digestion waited upon appetite ; appetite 
 waited upon exercise ; exercise waited upon study ; 
 study waited upon conversation ; conversation waited 
 upon love. Could it be that November was over ? Can 
 life run by so fast ? Can it be that Christmas has 
 come ? Can we let life go by so fast ? Is it possible 
 that it is the end of January ? We cannot let life 
 go so fast. Really, is this St. Valentine's day ? 
 When ever did life go so fast ? 
 
 And with the 1st of March the mules were ordered, 
 and they moved to the next higher level. The men 
 and women walked. And there, on the grade of a new 
 climate, they began on a new botany, on new discov 
 eries, and happy life found new forms as they began 
 again. 
 
 So sped April and so sped May. Life had its battles 
 oh, yes, because it was life. But they were not the 
 pettiest of battles. They were not the battles of 
 prisoners shut up, to keep out the weather, in cells 
 fifteen feet square. They fought, if they fought, with 
 God's air in their veins and God's warm sunshine 
 around them and God's blue sky above them. So 
 
IDEALS. 221 
 
 they did what they could, as they wrote and read and 
 drew and painted, as they walked and ran and swam 
 and rode and drove, as they encouraged this peon boy 
 and taught that peon girl, smoothed this old woman's 
 pillow and listened to that old man's story, as they 
 analyzed these wonderful flowers, as they tasted these 
 wonderful fruits, as they climbed these wonderful 
 mountains, or, at night, as they pointed the telescope 
 through this cloudless and stainless sky. 
 
 With all their might they lived. And they were so 
 many, and there were so many round them to whom 
 their coming was a new being, that they lived in love, 
 and every day drank in of the infinite elixir. 
 
 But June came. The mules are sent for again. 
 Again they walked a quarter of a mile. And here in 
 the little whitewashed cottage, with only a selection 
 from the books below, with two guitars and a flute in 
 place of the piano here they made ready for three 
 weeks of June. Only three weeks ; for on the 2Qth 
 was the Commencement at Antioch, and Jane and 
 Walter and Florence were to take their degrees. 
 There would need five days from Vera Cruz to reach 
 them. And so this summer was to be spent in the 
 North with them, before October should bring all the 
 children and the parents to the land of the open sky. 
 
 Three busy weeks between the 1st and the 22d, in 
 which all the pictures must be finished, Ingham's novel 
 must be revised, Haliburton's articles completed, the 
 new invention for measuring power must be gauged 
 and tested, the dried flowers must be mounted and 
 packed, the preserved fruits must be divided for the 
 northern friends. Three happy weeks of life eventful, 
 but life without crowding and, above all, without 
 interruption. "Think of it," cried Felix, as they 
 
222 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 took their last walk among the lava crags, " the door 
 bell has not rung all this last winter !" 
 
 " ' This happy old king 
 
 On his gate he did swing, 
 Because there was never a door-bell to ring. 1 " 
 
 This was Julia's impromptu reply. 
 
 IV. HOME AGAIN. 
 
 So came one more journey. Why can we not go and 
 come without this musty steamer, these odious smells, 
 this food for dogs, and this surge ah, how remorse 
 less ! of the cruel sea ? 
 
 But even this will end. Once more the Stars and 
 Stripes ! A land of furnaces and of water-pipes, a 
 land of beggars and of caucuses, a land of gas-meters 
 and of liars, a land of pasteboard and of cards, a land 
 of etiquettes and of bad spelling, but still their country! 
 A land of telegraphs, which told in an instant, as they 
 landed on the levee, that all the twenty-nine were well, 
 and begged them to be at the college on Tuesday 
 evening, so as to see Much Ado about Nothing. For 
 at Antioch they act a play the night before Commence 
 ment. A land of Pullman's palace cars. And lo ! 
 they secured sections 5 and 6, 7 and 8, in the ' ' May 
 flower. " Just time to kiss the baby of one friend, and 
 to give a basket of guavas to another, and then whir 
 for Cincinnati and Xenia and Yellow Springs ! 
 
 How beautiful were the live-oaks and the magnolias ! 
 How fresh the green of the cotton ! How black the 
 faces of the little negroes, and how beyond dispute the 
 perfume of the baked peanuts at the stations where 
 sometimes they had to stop for wood and water ! 
 Even the heavy pile of smoke above Cincinnati was 
 
IDEALS. 223 
 
 V, 
 
 golden with the hopes of a new born day as they rushed 
 up to the Ohio River, and as they crossed it. And 
 then, the land of happy homes ! It was Kapnist who 
 said to me that the most favored places in the world 
 were the larger villages in Ohio. He had gone every 
 where, too. Xenia, and a perfect breakfast at the 
 station, then the towers of Antioch, then the twenty- 
 nine children waving their handkerchiefs as the train 
 rushes in ! 
 
 How much there was to tell, to show, to ask for, and 
 to see ! How much pleasure they gave with their 
 cochineal, their mangoes, their bananas, their hat 
 bands for the boys, and their fans for the girls ! Yes ; 
 and how much more they took from nut-brown faces, 
 from smiles beaming from ear to ear, from the boy so 
 tall that he looked down upon his father, from the girl 
 so womanly that you asked if her mother were not mas 
 querading. " You rascal, Ozro, you do not pretend 
 that those trousers were made for you ? Why, my 
 boy, you disgrace the family." " I hope not, papa ; 
 I had ninety-eight in the botany examination, passed 
 with honors in Greek, and we beat the Buckeye Club 
 to nothing in the return match yesterday." 'You 
 did, you little beggar?" the proud papa replied. 
 " You ran all the better, I suppose, because you had 
 nothing to trip you." And so on, and so on. The 
 children did not live in paradise, perhaps, but this 
 seems very like the kingdom come ! 
 
 And after commencements and the president's party, 
 up to the Yellow Springs platform came two unusual 
 palaces, specially engaged. And one was named the 
 ' Valparaiso," and the other, as it happened, the 
 " Bethlehem." And they took all the children, and 
 by good luck Mrs. Tucker was going also, and three or 
 
224 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 four of the college girls, and they took them. So there 
 were forty-two in all. And they sped and sped, with 
 out change of cars, save as Bethlehem visited Paradise 
 and Paradise visited Bethlehem, till they came to New 
 Salem, which is the station men buy tickets for, when 
 they would go to the beach below Quonochontaug, 
 where the eight and the twenty-nine were to make 
 their summer home before the final emigration. 
 
 They do not live at Quonochontaug, but to that 
 post-office are their letters sent. They live in a ham 
 let of their own, known to the neighbors as the Little 
 Gau. Four large houses, whitewashed without and 
 within, with deep piazzas all around, the roofs of which 
 join the roofs of the houses themselves, and run up on 
 all sides to one point above the centre. In each house 
 a hall some twenty feet by fifty, and in the hall what 
 is not in the hall ? maybe a piano, maybe a fish-rod, 
 maybe a rifle or a telescope, a volume of sermons or 
 a volume of songs, a spinning-wheel, or a guitar, or a 
 battledore. You might ask widely for what you needed, 
 for study or for play, and you would find it, though it 
 were a deep divan of Osiut or a chibouque from 
 Stamboul you would find it in one of these simple 
 whitewashed halls. 
 
 Little Gau is so near the sea-shore that every day 
 they go down to the beach to bathe, and the beach is 
 so near the Gulf Stream that the swim is well, perfec 
 tion. Still, the first day the ladies would not swim. 
 They had the trunks to open, they said, and the closets 
 to arrange. And the four men and the fourteen boys 
 went to that bath of baths alone. And as Felix, the 
 cynic grumbler, ran races naked on the beach with his 
 boy and the boy beat him, even Felix was heard to 
 
IDEALS. 225 
 
 X 
 
 say, " How little man needs here below to be perfectly 
 happy !" 
 
 And at the Little Gau they spent the months from 
 the 4th of July to the I3th of October two great 
 days in history getting ready for Mexico. New sew 
 ing machines were bought, and the fall of the stream 
 from the lake was taught to run the treadles. No end 
 of clothing was got ready for a country which needs 
 none ; no end of memoranda made for the last 
 purchases ; no end of lists of books prepared, which 
 they could read in that land of leisure. And on the 
 I4th of October, with a passing sigh, they bade good- 
 by to boats and dogs and cows and horses and 
 neighbors and beaches almost to sun and moon, which 
 had smiled on so much happiness, and went back to 
 Boston to make the last bargains, to pay the last bills, 
 and to say the last good-bys. 
 
 After one day of bill-paying and house-advertising 
 and farewelling, they met at Tngham's to " tell their 
 times." And Julia told of her farewell call on dear 
 Mrs. Blake. 
 
 4 The saint !" said she ; " she does not see as well 
 as she did. But it was just lovely there. There was 
 the great bronze Japanese stork, which seemed so 
 friendly, and the great vases, and her flowers as fresh 
 as ever, and her books everywhere. She found some 
 thing for Tom and Maud to play with, just as she used 
 to for Ben and Horace. And we sat and talked of 
 Mexico and Antioch and everything. I asked her if 
 her eyes troubled her, and I was delighted because it 
 seems they do not trouble her at all. She told all 
 about Swampscot and her grandchildren. I asked her if 
 the dust never troubled them on Gladstone Street, but 
 
226 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 she says it does not at all ; and she told all about her 
 son's family in Hong-Kong. I asked her if the failure 
 of Rupee and Lac annoyed them, and she said not at 
 all, and I was so glad, for I had been so afraid for 
 them ; and then she told about how much they were 
 enjoying Macaulay. Then I asked her if the new anvil 
 factory on the other side of the street did not trouble 
 her, and she said not at all. And when I said, ' How 
 can that be ? ' she said, ' Why, Julia dear, we do not 
 let these things trouble us, don't you see ? If I were 
 you, I would not let such things trouble me.' ' 
 
 George Haliburton laid down his knife as Julia told 
 the story. " Do you remember Rabia at Mecca ?" 
 
 Yes, they all remembered Rabia at Mecca : 
 
 " O heart, weak follower of the weak, 
 
 That thou shouldst traverse land and sea ; 
 In this far place that God to seek 
 Who long ago had come to thee !" 
 
 " Why should we not stay here, and not let these 
 things trouble us ?" 
 Why not, indeed ? 
 
 AND THEY STAYED ! 
 
 " They stayed, after all !" cried Mrs. Frechette, when 
 the professor finished the last chapter. " After all 
 those butterflies and bananas and sugar-canes ; did you 
 stay and freeze and thaw, Mrs. Hackmatack?" 
 
 " We certainly did," said Julia, " else I should not 
 have been here." 
 
 " Well, if my husband will ever put me in a country 
 which knows nothing of kindlings and coal-dust, and 
 yarn, and knitting and darning, worst of all, in that 
 country I shall stay." 
 
AN INTERMISSION. 227 
 
 X 
 
 And they went on, in groups, in quite eager discus 
 sion of the conclusion of the story. 
 
 Sitting far back, in the retirement of Number 3, 
 Theodora said to Mr. Decker : ' Would you have 
 stayed or would you have gone back again ?" 
 
 He was on the very edge of saying, " If you had 
 stayed, I should have stayed, and if you had gone, I 
 should have gone ;" and as this was the exact truth, 
 those advantages which belong to speaking the truth 
 in all places would have followed the statement. 
 
 But, in fact, he just caught himself. 
 
 44 1 should well, that is a question ; why you know 
 I should I suppose I should have done as the rest 
 did." 
 
 * You give yourself very little credit for decision of 
 character," said she, laughing. ' You must read Mr. 
 Foster's essay." 
 
 " Oh, essays will do me no good. Well, I confess, 
 I told you that I am of no kind of use unless I am 
 living with other people. With them and for them, I 
 believe I ought to say, and they living with me and 
 for me, I will say, too." 
 
 'You believe in the ' Together,' " said Julia, for 
 getting that he had not heard that story read. 
 
 "Why," said he, surprised, " do you know that is 
 my chief's motto ? It is on his seal ring, and it is on 
 the letter paper of the works. 
 
 "Yes, I believe in the 'Together,' as I hardly 
 believe in anything else. And it is clear that Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hackmatack yonder and their crowd found that 
 life depended, not on cocoanuts or sugar-canes, but on 
 the more or less of love." 
 
 " Of love and of good temper," said the girl, never 
 dreaming that he was looking through and through 
 
228 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 her, and hoping that she would divine how much he 
 meant. 
 
 " Of love and of good temper, yes," he said, perhaps 
 a little disappointed. " But good temper comes with 
 love, with such love as I mean. If one of those people 
 in the story, with all their joking and discussing if 
 one of those men knows and feels that the other I 
 don't mean the other if he knows that Alice, or Polly, 
 or whatever the name is if she has rescued him from 
 himself, or from just a bear's life with other bears if 
 she has given him home, and the glory of home by 
 going into his cabin with him and being good to 
 him, and kind to him, and explaining to him and cheer 
 ing him up, why, he is a brute if he is ill-tempered to 
 her, or if he is not willing to move the cabin from one 
 place to another if she wants him to. Don't you 
 see?" 
 
 But Theodora laughed. " I see that he might be 
 very good tempered, and I am afraid, poor man, he 
 would have to be, if he treated his Polly or his Alice 
 in that fashion. No, no, Mr. Decker, the good nature 
 is needed on her side as well as on his side. She must 
 sit in the cabin all day, while he is out with his flute 
 on the sierra, catching the key-note of the ' mocking 
 birds.' ' 
 
 " I do not see that I do not see why she should not 
 be at his side with her zithern." 
 
 And they both laughed. She began again : " Well, 
 I will not have him on the sierra. She must be all day 
 in the cabin, because it rains, oh, it rains in torrents, 
 and he is sitting on the edge of Deadman's Gulch, 
 holding a claim which Bob Watriss and Jim Blackeye 
 want to run. She sees nobody and nothing for the 
 twelve hours of every day, and all the time it rains, 
 
AN INTERMISSION. 229 
 
 and the chimney smokes, and her meal is bad ; but 
 she must have the supper warm and nice when he 
 comes in. And she must not lose her temper." 
 
 Paul Decker looked at her with even new admira 
 tion. 'You have been there," he said. "That is 
 what the boys would say. And I am sure you did not 
 lose yours." This, with some terror, lest he was 
 going farther than he might. 
 
 But Theodora was unconscious of compliment. She 
 sighed : ' ' Ah me ! I wish I were sure of that. But 
 you are right, Mr. Decker. She never did my mother 
 never did. Just as sunny and as sweet when the 
 chimney smoked, and when there were six dirty 
 Indians squatting round the fire, as she was on her 
 wedding-day. And once, when I dared ask her how it 
 was that she never once broke down, when I was as 
 cross as a bear, she smiled with the smile of an angel, 
 and she said to me, " Dora, dear 
 
 Then Theodora stopped, and she said: "No; I 
 don't think I ought to repeat what she said, even to 
 you." 
 
 " Even !" The moment the words had gone, she 
 saw what she had said, and if anybody could have 
 seen her her cheeks flushed fire. 
 
 Paul Decker noticed them as well never doubt that 
 and he could have shouted with his exultation. But 
 Life slides on without hitches or delays, whether 
 young people do or do not make slips in their talk, and 
 at this moment Hector's loud voice was heard. 
 
 ' The president is distressed to observe the laxity 
 and lack of discipline of the company. The hours are 
 rapidly ebbing, and to-day will soon be to-morrow, or 
 yesterday, I really forget which. Meanwhile I under 
 stand that the preparations are all made for the ta- 
 
230 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 bleau, and Mr, Paul Decker and his company will favor 
 us with the great historical painting of 
 
 "THE APACHE'S REVENGE." 
 
 Paul, good fellow, he had wholly forgotten the 
 rigmarole of the programme, and he was wholly off his 
 guard. 
 
 But he did not mean to have that party of people all 
 staring at him and at Miss Bourn, in the deep recess of 
 Number 3. 
 
 With the audacity of genius, he sprang forward, 
 caught from the rack in the car the gilded axe which 
 was part of its provision, and seized up Caesar's feather 
 duster in his left hand. 
 
 Then he pretended to flourish the axe over the head 
 of Professor Wisner, and held him so firmly, that the 
 tableau was complete. The assembly broke into ap 
 plause. 
 
 What was better, no one dreamed how Paul had been 
 occupied the moment before. 
 
 "And now," cried Hector, "we will ask Mr. 
 Frechette for his love story, and then the hall will be 
 cleared for dancing. ' ' 
 
 " My love story, as it happens, is a Christmas story," 
 said Mr. Frechette. " I would tell it as my friend, Dr. 
 Withers, told it to me ; but as all the others have read, 
 I am modest about talking." So he unfolded a news 
 paper, and read the story of 
 
 NOTHING TO GIVE. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS TALE. 
 
 Nora had learned some things at school. She had 
 learned many more since she was tossed head fore- 
 
NOTHING TO GIVE. 231 
 
 most into that sea which we call life and was told to 
 swim. 
 
 She had learned a great deal of human nature, and, 
 among other things, of her own nature since she had 
 been the head book keeper at Schweigel & Drum's. 
 
 But one thing she had not learned. She had not 
 learned that when, on the first of January, you plan 
 your expenses for the year, knowing what your income 
 is to be and wishing not to exceed it, you must provide 
 for " Monsieur L'Impre*vu" for " Mr. Unexpected.'' 
 
 A wise person, in laying out his time or disposing, in 
 advance, of his money, leaves full half for the expendi 
 tures of this monster. We never expect his coming 
 at any given moment ; but, all the same, a person 
 who has learned the lesson of life knows very well that 
 he will come at some moment, and that he is a very 
 expensive visitor. 
 
 Not having learned this, Nora had spent in this 
 particular year very close to the margin, and so she had 
 on the 2Oth of December just five dollars left, with 
 which to buy her Christmas presents. 
 
 " It is not so much as I wish," said Nora ; "but I 
 will make it answer." She remembered the Japanese 
 stores and Macy's cheap counters, and she was quite 
 sure she could make her five dollars do. She would 
 take leave of absence from the desk for the whole of 
 Wednesday afternoon, would make the tour of the 
 shops, would figure over the prices, and then in a 
 couple of hours on Thursday she could make all her 
 purchases. 
 
 All very fine, Nora, if " Mr. Unexpected" do not 
 step in. 
 
 But he did step in. When Nora came home Tues 
 day night there was a letter. It was this letter : 
 
232 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE, 
 
 ANN VINTON TO NORA AFFLITT. 
 
 MT. VERNON, December 20. 
 
 MY DEAR, DEAR NORA : I am so wretched and have no one to 
 turn to but you. Such a poor creature am I, as I always was. 
 And, as always, you are my only help. O Nora, what shall I do ? 
 He is off again, God knows where ! He was here here in this 
 house for four days, after his last time. O Nora, it was hell, at 
 first ; and then I really pitied him. And then he was so 
 wretched himself ; and he begged me to forgive him ; and he 
 swore on his knees, and he took the Bible in his hands, that he 
 would never touch liquor again. Then he dressed himself as 
 well as he could, and went to the works, to beg them to take him 
 on again. O Nora, why did I not go with him ? That noon he 
 was seen at that horrible Kirke's saloon. They call it Hell-gate 
 Lager, and they call it well. That night he was staggering 
 along the canal bank, not knowing the men that met him, and, 
 Nora, he has never been seen since ! What shall I do, Nora, 
 and where shall I go ? There has not been a spark of fire on 
 this hearth for four days, and I have begged all the milk I have 
 given to the poor, dear babies. I get on with almost nothing. 
 Write me, Nora, something and tell me how to do. I know you 
 love me, and you are wise, and I was always foolish. 
 
 Always your own poor ANN. 
 
 This letter Nora answered by enclosing to Ann 
 Vinton the five dollars she had reserved for her 
 presents. She did not go to the Japanese shops, and 
 the crowd at Macy's was the smaller by one, because 
 Ann Vinton had written this letter. 
 
 So it was that when Christmas eve came round, Nora 
 found herself sitting in her little room, looking into 
 her stove, and saying to herself that she had nothing 
 to spend for Christmas, for the first time she could 
 remember since she was born. 
 
 As for making presents with her hands for her 
 friends, well, Nora was not of that kind. After her 
 day's work at Schweigel & Drum's she was in no con- 
 
NOTHING TO GIVE. 233 
 
 X 
 
 dition to paint fans, or embroider portieres, or to cut 
 out and glue card-board. " All very fine," said 
 Nora, aloud, "this about giving yourself to your 
 friends. I should give myself away very soon, if I tried 
 that." And then her poor little joke provoked her. 
 No ; they must do without poor Nora's presents this 
 time, simply and squarely because " I've NOTHING 
 TO GIVE." 
 
 There was a tap at the door, and, at Nora's summons, 
 Martha Buchanan entered. She was a girl who shared 
 with another girl the attic off the end of the entry. 
 Nora's room was the square attic room, as large as the 
 front parlor and only five stories above it. Nora took 
 her room alone, and this single fact would have given 
 a certain distinction to her among the seven girls 
 whose lodgings were on that floor ; but, to say truth, 
 she had other ways of earning distinction, and her head 
 ship was recognized. 
 
 " Miss Afflitt, could you and would you lend me a 
 dollar ?" 
 
 Nora laughed ; not cynically, even good-naturedly. 
 ' Take my purse, Martha. Take my all. I share it 
 with you willingly," and she gave it to her. 
 
 Martha opened it, and laughed also. " Are you as 
 hard up as that ? Why, I can do better than that, 
 Miss Afflitt. Shall I not lend you something ?" 
 
 14 No, dear child. There are only two devils known 
 to me one is drink and the other is debt. I have 
 only to start fifteen minutes earlier every morning and 
 walk to the store, and pay-day is on the 3Oth this year, 
 when I shall be fly again." Fly was a cant word these 
 girls had invented, or picked up from the short -hand 
 girls they knew, who use it for another purpose. 
 
234 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Nora chattered on the faster, because she saw, too 
 late, that, in condemning debt, she had censured 
 Martha, who had come in to borrow. 
 
 But Martha took no offence. " Oh dear, I wish I 
 were half as wise as you. But it says in the Book that 
 half of them were wise and half were foolish, and I 
 suppose that is the way always. What do you think 
 I wanted the dollar for ?" 
 
 Nora could not guess, of course. Martha told 
 her. 
 
 ' You see, I have a dollar and a half. I wanted to 
 treat a new girl there is in our store, who has been 
 good to me ever since she came. She is in the cloak 
 room, you know. Well, she is French, I believe 
 French or German ; and I was going to ask her to see 
 Patti with me to-night, because she is sort of lonely 
 evenings, and I well, Miss Nora, you know I am 
 always lonely." And poor, silly Martha's face fell and 
 looked very sad. 
 
 Nora doubted what to do or to say. Then she was 
 swept away by The Spirit. She determined herself to 
 say nothing ; but the moment she had so determined 
 The Spirit possessed her and they said together : 
 
 " Martha, I don't like to think of your going to the 
 theatre so, with a girl you don't know much, and with 
 no real escort of your own." And, if Nora had not 
 feared to seem selfish, she would have added, " And 
 on borrowed money." " Patti is all very nice when 
 a nice large party of us go together ; or Patti would 
 be very nice if she would come around and sing to us 
 here ; but seems to me I would not go much to the 
 theatre with with perfect strangers. ' ' 
 
 " Will you go with me, Nora I mean Miss AfHitt ? 
 I do so hunger and thirst for the opera sometimes ; 
 
NOTHTNG TO GIVE. 235 
 
 and to-night it is ' Sonnambula. ' ' And she hummed 
 an air. 
 
 " Some night, dear child, when we are not all in 
 debt, we will make a party and go ; but to-night " 
 
 ' To-night we will sit up here and read ' Miss Hester 
 Chapone's Letters to Young Women' and top off with 
 ' The Last Moral Considerations of an Expiring 
 Saint.' " 
 
 Martha was erratic and whimsical, and, if a fit of in 
 dignation came on her, she did not fear to express 
 herself. 
 
 'We will be virtuous," she said, with a sneer, 
 " though we have no cakes and by no means any 
 ale." 
 
 Then, as if one outburst had settled her, she started 
 up, and said : 
 
 1 ' Well, any way, I can get a gallery seat alone, if I 
 cannot ask Miss Gounod. It would be too late to ask 
 her now, if I had the dollar. And if I am alone I had 
 as lief sit in the gallery. That is what I shall do." 
 So she turned to leave the room. 
 
 Nora did not like this girl ; she had had storm after 
 storm with her, not unlike this squall ; but she hated 
 to have the girl go to the bad, if she could help it, and 
 she had the feeling come over her that this was one of 
 the crisis minutes. She spoke as before, not much 
 knowing why she spoke or what she said. 
 
 " Martha, let me go, too ? We need not read Hester 
 Chapone." 
 
 "Oh, no," said the mad creature. "We can go 
 to a vestry meeting and hear the Rev. Boanerges 
 Howl's tenth lecture on the seventh city of the plain. 
 Do let us go there together !" 
 
 ' ' Dear Martha, do be patient. I had meant to stay 
 
236 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 at home ; but it is stupid here, it is very stupid. If I 
 have you with me, I shall not be afraid in the streets. 
 Let us go out, if we only see the children flatten their 
 noses against the toy-shop windows. Perhaps Santa 
 Claus will give us a ride." And, on the impulse, she 
 put on her Arctic boots and her waterproof. 
 
 ' Will you go to Patti and sit in the gallery," said 
 the girl, amazed, "just to keep me out of mischief? 
 You are a saint. ' ' 
 
 " I did not say that," said Nora. " I said we would 
 see what we would see." 
 
 It was one of those very, very rare Decembers when 
 a heavy snowfall gives for once the joy of sleigh-bells 
 for a day or two even to the crowded avenues and to 
 Broadway, and the two girls had hardly walked a 
 hundred paces when a great, open sleigh, crowded with 
 exultant passengers, swept along. It was a sleigh 
 which one of the street railways had put on, while their 
 ploughing was yet imperfect. As it happened, a dozen 
 people left it at that crossing. 
 
 " It is for us, Nora," cried the impetuous Martha, 
 and she dragged her friend, not unwillingly, upon the 
 vacant seat. The horses started again, and for the 
 first time for years the two girls found themselves on 
 a sleigh-ride all the more delightful because it was 
 absolutely impromptu. Nora felt, indeed, as if Santa 
 Claus had started a few hours early for the special 
 purpose of relieving her cares. For half an hour, if 
 for no more, her impetuous friend was cared for. 
 Martha succeeded in keeping from singing ; but she 
 exulted wildly, by every word and gesture which was 
 within any definition of decorum. And Nora hoped, 
 
NOTHING TO GIVE. 237 
 
 and hoped rightly, that she -was blowing off a little of 
 her pent-up steam. 
 
 But the ride could not last forever. The children of 
 the public can have a good deal for five cents. But 
 even five cents comes to an end. Not far from the 
 Battery their elegant carriage turned, and for five cents 
 more each, Martha providing the princely entertain 
 ment, they were borne back as far as Nora dared to go. 
 
 But she was quite wrong when she left the sleigh, if 
 she thought Martha had seen enough of the gay world. 
 She was only the more eager. 
 
 " Oh, no, dear Miss Afflitt. Do not drag me home 
 quite yet. Or, if you are cold, go without me. You 
 said I might see the children flatten their noses. You 
 know I have I have a dollar and a quarter left. I 
 am going to buy some tea things for some of those 
 little wretches. They shall not look in at the windows 
 for nothing. I had just as lief go alone." 
 
 Poor Nora ! What was there for it now ? It was 
 really at that moment that this story begins. 
 
 Yes, I believe it was The Spirit which moved her. 
 What I know is that whoever strives to will AND to 
 do of his good pleasure always finds out how. The 
 AND is the important word. If, besides willing, we do, 
 it is sure that He is present with us. 
 
 Nora willed, AND did. 
 
 " Martha, dear, I am cold ; but, if you will come into 
 this cafe with me, till I am warm again, then we will go 
 and see the children flatten their noses at Schwartz's. 
 Come, Martha, really it is not very bad here." And 
 she led the wild girl into the rather dingy cafe, which 
 the " Look-up Legion" of the Church of the Disciples 
 
238 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 had opened in a cellar. "Come in, Martha. They 
 have burned all their Chapone's letters to warm their 
 coffee." 
 
 " Nora," said Martha, " you know you could make 
 me go into the jaws of death, not to say the hotter 
 place ; but a Coffee House of Virtue is what I never 
 did try before." All the same -she went in. 
 
 " Not there, Martha. That is the smoking-room." 
 
 " Right you are," said the girl, laughing. " I am 
 not yet advanced enough for cheroots. I told Ben so, 
 last Sunday." 
 
 " Now, if you will treat," said Nora, " order me a 
 piece of squash pie for my Christmas and a two-cent 
 cup of coffee." 
 
 And Martha ordered them and doubled the order for 
 herself. And Nora sat and sipped, and Martha sat and 
 sipped, impatient. 
 
 Nora made it last as long as she could ; but it would 
 not last forever. All this time from the next room 
 was a harsh clangor from a piano, sweet enough in 
 tone, but horribly played by some dabster. At last, 
 even this apology for music stopped, and the girls could 
 hear eager discussion. 
 
 In a minute a motherly woman came into the coffee- 
 room. 
 
 " I beg pardon, ladies ; but is there anybody here 
 who could and would play some accompaniments 
 in ' The Messiah ' ? They are very simply set, and 
 Mr. Incledon is here ready to sing for us, if any one 
 would play." 
 
 " Do you believe her?" said Martha, excited. 
 
 " We can see," Nora said. "It is always well to 
 test liars." She saw that The Spirit was taking care 
 of her, " I play very ill, madam," said she to the 
 
NOTHING TO GIVE. 239 
 
 ^ s 
 
 woman; "but I knew that music once;" and she 
 gathered up her gloves and asked Martha to bring her 
 boots, and they went into the music-room. 
 
 Perhaps twenty people were assembled there. There 
 had been more, but the jangling amateur had driven 
 all the others away. In a little, Nora was at her seat ; 
 the artist who was to sing had shown her what he 
 needed, and then, with little aid from Nora indeed, 
 little was needed he sang one, two, three of those 
 exquisite airs, all inwrought now with the best words 
 of Isaiah ; so that he who has heard Handel cannot 
 read the prophecy without the rhythm of the music 
 recurring. The clear tones of the distinguished artist, 
 as of a voice from heaven, rang through all the low 
 rooms. One and another straggler came in, from 
 coffee-room and from billiard-room ; and thus so many 
 crowded together that their guest ventured to propose 
 this duet and that quartette not all from Handel now, 
 but from one and another of the oratorios, or from 
 one and another opera, or sometimes from the old 
 "Academy Collection" or the " Carmina Sacra." 
 Whoever he was, he knew the average American 
 audience and the average American singer. That 
 night he had better luck than might have been 
 expected. Nora's head was level, and she was not 
 once confused. Whatever he placed before her she 
 could play at sight. Now the whole assembly sang 
 " Coronation ;" now, by some magic known to him, he 
 devised that such a visitor could and should sing an 
 Ave Maria. The roll of music he brought with him 
 seemed Fortunatus's bag. The Legion's little book 
 case of music yielded treasures not guessed at. In 
 some chorus he caught Martha's voice rich and even 
 exuberant. Before she knew it, he had her singing in 
 
340 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 a four-part glee, and a billiard-marker singing the bass, 
 while Nora furnished a soprano to the words, then 
 new, of 
 
 " Sharp cracks the rifle yonder." 
 
 Glee, hymn, catch, ballad four-part, three-part, two- 
 part, and parts of all sorts succeeded quickly, till it 
 was fairly midnight. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen all, I wish you a merry 
 Christmas," he cried. ' What a jolly evening we have 
 had ! and I told Brown I could only stop here for 
 fifteen minutes ! But, to tell the truth," said he, bow 
 ing to Nora, " I did not expect to find you here. We 
 should never have done without you." Then, as he 
 saw how the girl blushed and was really troubled, he 
 said, laughing, " Nor that any of the others of the 
 ladies and gentlemen of the company would honor us 
 with their assistance. Now it is time we were all in 
 bed," he added, " only I must sing, were it only for 
 Santa Claus's sake, ' Behold how brightly breaks the 
 morning ! ' And he unrolled the music and placed it 
 before Nora, and he sang the song, oh so magificently ! 
 And then they all bade each other a merry Christmas 
 and good-night, and started home. 
 
 ' Think of going to Sonnambula, after all, Nora," 
 said Martha, as they unlocked the door. ' You are a 
 witch. I have found you out, and I will have you 
 hanged some day. Dear Miss AfHitt, forgive me." 
 Then she turned suddenly, and kissed Nora, and fell 
 into a burst of crying, as they found their dark way 
 up-stairs. 
 
 It was a year after, when Forefathers' day came 
 round again, and Nora began planning for her presents. 
 She had learned her lesson this time. She had fifty- 
 
NOTHING TO GIVE, 241 
 
 two dollars and interest in the bank and ten in her 
 purse. 
 
 " Where shall I be Christmas eve this year?" said 
 she, as she looked into her stove, now a year more 
 dingy; for never did the "Rising Sun" touch the 
 sides of that stove. 
 
 " I wonder where my poor wild cat, Martha, is ?" 
 
 At this, Draggle-tail, the maid-of-all-work, brought 
 up two letters, which had come by the late delivery. 
 
 And Nora told her that for reward she must take 
 a quarter of a dollar to buy her Christmas presents 
 with. Thus Nora began, and Draggle-tail departed in 
 delight. 
 
 Letter number one was a square, elegant thing, 
 which looked like an invitation, and proved to be one. 
 
 First Nora took out two cards. Mrs. James 
 Heilbron asked her, in copper-plate engraving, to be 
 present at her daughter's wedding, at " The Church 
 of Life Eternal," on Christmas eve. And there was 
 also Mr. Nahum MacLeod's card. There was also a 
 note from Miss Jessie Heilbron, who was, as it proved, 
 the bride. Mr. MacLeod was to be the bridegroom. 
 
 JESSIE MACLEOD TO NORA AFFLITT. 
 
 DEAR Miss AFFLITT : You do not know me, but I want you all 
 the more at my wedding. For Mr. MacLeod wants you to 
 come, and he has told me why. If you do not know, we will tell 
 you that evening. Always yours truly, 
 
 JESSIE HEILBRON. 
 
 'This is a Christmas present indeed," said Nora, 
 and she fell wondering and guessing who Jessie Heil 
 bron or Nahum MacLeod might be, so that she forgot 
 the other letter till the tea-bell rang. 
 
 When it rang she sprang up to go to the glass, and 
 the other letter fell upon the floor. 
 
24 2 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE 
 
 MARTHA BUCHANAN TO NORA AFFLITT. 
 
 DEAR Miss NORA : The Heilbrons have asked me to Jessicas 
 
 wedding, and Jessie says she has asked you. Pray, come. 
 
 Call for me, and take me, for I am going. Dear, dear Miss 
 
 Nora, I have so much to tell you and everything to thank you for. 
 
 Truly yours, " FOOLISH MARTHA." 
 
 And Martha's address, unknown to Nora until now, 
 was added. 
 
 " Wonders upon wonders," said Nora, aloud, and 
 she locked her room-door and went down to tea. 
 
 The evening came for the wedding. Nora ordered 
 a carriage and called for Martha, as she had arranged. 
 She was not delayed. In a moment the eager girl was 
 at her side. So soon as the carriage door was shut, 
 she seized Nora's hand and kissed her passionately. 
 ' Why have I not ever gone to see you, when I love you 
 so much and am so grateful ? I must not cry. Only I 
 am so glad and I cannot help it. If my dress is spotted 
 with tears and I look like a fright, you will know it is 
 your fault, and I do not care. Oh, do you remember 
 a year ago ? Oh, dear Miss Afflitt, when I think what 
 that night did for me ; and when I think what might 
 have been, for I was just wild when I asked you for 
 that dollar." 
 
 So she began, and then, as their long ride went on, 
 Nora was able to extort from her her story. 
 
 It was not a great story, after all. Only, as she said, 
 that night was a crisis. The cafe was the place, the 
 singing was the occasion. Mr. Incledon, the great 
 singer, had spoken of her voice to his friend, Mr. 
 Hartmann, the organist. The two had readily found 
 her address, and had sent for her. Mr. Hartmann had 
 tested her voice, and had advised very wisely about 
 
NOTHINQ TO GIVE. 243 
 
 its training. Mme. Coppe, under whose care he had 
 placed her, had done the best, really the best, because 
 the kindest things, for her young charge. She had 
 surrounded her with her other pupils. She had pro 
 vided a fit place for the girl to live in. Martha moved 
 to it while Nora was at home at New Year, and so 
 it was that Nora had lost the trace of her. Mme. 
 Copp6e had, before long, relieved her from the daily 
 drudgery of the shop. She had secured for her an 
 engagement in the choir of the Church of the Disciples. 
 "And, Nora, how could I sing there ; how could I 
 meet those lovely Price girls and that brave Miss 
 Sansom ; how could I see them, strong as they are 
 and beautiful, all drawing their life from The Fountain; 
 and how could I think that I could paddle my own 
 canoe ? It was seeing them, Nora, and seeing you that 
 saved me from myself and brought me to my Leader." 
 
 The girl said this in triumph. 
 
 "Only, how graceless," she said, "never to come 
 to you to tell you of my life and that I am oh, so 
 happy ! But, Nora, you forgive me. For it was 
 really that I wanted to say it to you on Christmas Eve. 
 And to think we should be riding down the avenue 
 again together now, just as we were then." 
 
 So they came to the church, and, my dear, George 
 Withers married the handsome, loyal man, and the 
 lovely, true woman. And then, after the ceremony, 
 Nora and Martha rode again to Mr. Heilbron's house, 
 where was to be a wedding-reception. And there, in 
 the dressing-room, as Nora arranged Martha's hair and 
 pinned a rosebud at her breast, she could not but see 
 the light of heaven in the girl's eyes. It was clear 
 that no one would think " she brought a fright" down 
 stairs with her. 
 
244 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 And after the mothers and fathers, and uncles and 
 aunts, and cousins-german and cousins-Swedish, and 
 second cousins and third cousins removed had passed 
 by the bride and bridegroom, Nora and Martha, last 
 of all, without any usher, moved up and presented 
 themselves. Jessie Heilbron that was, Jessie MacLeod 
 that is, stepped forward to meet them. 
 
 " Dear Martha, you are so good to come. And this 
 is your beautiful friend ?" 
 
 " Thank you so much for coming, Miss Afflitt," said 
 the bridegroom. " If you do not know why, she shall 
 tell you. No," said he, " you may both hear. I will 
 tell you now." 
 
 For no other guest followed the two girls. It was 
 in the lull between the family party and the outside 
 world. 
 
 " Do you believe in devils, Miss Afflitt ? A year ago 
 the devil had me. The worst man in New York came 
 into the cafe where I saw you first, as he had come be 
 fore. He had found me, as he had found me before. 
 He asked me to go with him to hell, as he had asked 
 me before. And I was at the door, going, with my 
 hand on the handle, when, do you not remember, Incle- 
 don sang, 
 
 " ' Behold and see.' 
 
 I heard just that strain. And I came within one of say 
 ing : ' Get thee behind me, Satan. ' I did say : ' I 
 think I will not go. I want to hear this man sing.' I 
 put the devil behind me. I walked through to the 
 music-room, and you were at the piano, and this 
 little woman was behind you. 
 
 *' Miss Afflitt, I knew Jessie long before, and I loved 
 her she knows how well ; but she had told me she 
 
NOTHING TO GIVE. 245 
 
 would never speak to me again if I did not break with 
 Carker. And I I should have gone with Carker that 
 night, if Incledon had not sung 
 
 " ' Behold and see.' 
 
 " Miss Afflitt, what do you think I said to her the 
 morning after Incledon sang ? 
 
 " I said, ' Jessie, I have sent him to his own place. 
 So help me God, I will never speak to him again ; ' 
 and, Miss Afflitt, I have kept my word. 
 
 44 And that is why we sent for you to-night and for 
 Mr. Incledon to the wedding. 
 
 " Why, here he is ! Mr. Incledon, you said you had 
 never met Miss Afflitt again. I am so glad to present 
 you." 
 
 And they began to be merry. 
 
 For this my son, who was well-nigh dead, was alive 
 again. He had been lost and he was found. 
 
 Three happy lives, blessed of God and giving joy to 
 man these were the harvest, as the Spirit orders, of 
 that lonely Christmas eve, when poor Nora had 
 
 NOTHING TO GIVE, 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 
 
 AND Mr. Fr6chette read so well, and with so much 
 pathos as he closed, that once more the company were 
 silenced, though not saddened, and fell into quiet 
 Christmas talk for a moment, which even Hector did 
 not care to disturb. 
 
 It was the extra conductor, who had taken our train 
 to relieve the regular conductor at Council Bluffs, who 
 broke the silence, and said : " I have a queer Christ 
 mas story here, which perhaps Mr. Frechette may like 
 to read also." And, when Mr. Frechette hesitated, 
 the professor, well pleased to see that all parties were 
 joining in the entertainment, asked Mr. Cox if he 
 would not read it himself. Mr. Cox said the pro 
 fessor would read it better, and so Dr. Wisner stood up 
 again and read to the party the merrier story of 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 
 I. 
 
 ' ' Was ist das ? Was sagt erf 
 
 The sergeant replied that the boy was rebellious, and 
 said the pig was his own. His father gave it to him 
 on the 4th of July, the boy said, so that he should 
 always remember Independence. 
 
 And the sergeant grinned a very savage grin, as he 
 made this report to his major. 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 247 
 
 v 
 
 Poor little Oscar looked up at both the faces, not 
 understanding a word of the German, in which the 
 sergeant and the major both spoke ; but he understood 
 well that the drift of the talk was against him. 
 
 "It is my pig !" he screamed, again ; "its name 
 is George Washington, and when he comes here I am 
 to give it to him if I want to and if I want to, I am 
 to have it for my own. My father gave it to me on 
 Independence Day." 
 
 Again the obsequious sergeant, with a grin, 
 translated the words to the major. The major bade 
 him ask Oscar where his father was now, and why he 
 did not intervene to protect him. 
 
 Oscar, alas ! mad with rage now, was only too will 
 ing to tell. His father was with his regiment. It was 
 only last Monday that he had bidden Oscar good-by. 
 And if sergeant and major did not look well for 
 themselves, his father and General MifHin, and all the 
 army, would be down upon them, and they would rue 
 the day when they had interfered with his pig or him. 
 
 All which Sergeant Zenger explained, as decisively 
 as before, to Major Grenau. 
 
 " I will tell the general the story," said the major. 
 'The pig will make a good Christmas dinner for 
 him. As for the brat, shut him up in your guard 
 house for two or three days, and teach him to say, 
 4 God save King George. ' ! 
 
 So poor Oscar was marched off to the guard-house, 
 and the throat of poor piggy was cut before fifteen 
 minutes were over. 
 
 II. 
 
 Great was the surprise in Mrs. Winds's house that 
 day, when Oscar, the most punctual of boys, did not 
 
248 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 appear at dinner-time. And, though one and another 
 theory was constructed to account for his absence, poor 
 Mrs. Winds, in her heart, believed none of them. As 
 soon as dinner was over, she arrayed herself and began 
 passing from house to house in the village, to gather 
 such accounts of the boy as she could. The presence 
 of the English army in the town troubled her, but she 
 lived just outside the billet-line, and had no one 
 quartered on her. Her children had been diligently 
 charged not to visit the camp on any pretence, and to 
 have nothing to do with the soldiers. She despatched 
 Primus in one direction, and Salome in another, to 
 inquire of certain aunts and uncles, who might pos 
 sibly have taken the boy out of town with them, and she 
 sent Sarah down to the South Ferry to learn if the 
 boy had strayed there to see his cousin. For the 
 boats and the water always tempted him. For herself, 
 she took the more practical, if more difficult duty, of 
 house-to-house inquiry. 
 
 As the reader knows, she did not find Oscar outside 
 the billet-line. As it happened, also, she did not find 
 any one who could give her any assistance. Those 
 who said they knew most proved, as always, to know 
 least, and most of them broke down under her severe 
 motherly cross-examination. She visited, literally, 
 every house, and as she came nearer and nearer to the 
 thickly-built street, all her fears were renewed lest 
 the boy might have been tempted by the drum and 
 fife, and violated her orders. He was a soldier's boy, 
 alas ! why should not he go where the other boys went, 
 to see a parade ? Poor Mrs. Winds ! As she trudged 
 on in the cold, she painted to herself all the shame of 
 walking in through a crowd of tramps, camp followers 
 and dirty Tories, to find any boy of hers ! To think 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 249 
 
 that one of them should be spending his afternoon in 
 such company ! 
 
 Worse than that, alas ! poor mother ! Into the first 
 house where there was a billet, no less a house than 
 Madam Maxwell's, she went with her inquiry, to 
 receive the answer only too definite. In times of 
 peace, Mrs. Winds, though she were the sturdy wife of 
 an honest farmer, would have hesitated a little before 
 she paid an afternoon visit to Madam Maxwell. But 
 war breaks down pasteboard distinctions ; and since 
 war came Madam Maxwell had more than once 
 needed Mrs. Winds's help and counsel, and thus Mrs. 
 Winds, with a certain ease, put her questions to the 
 stately lady. Madam Maxwell sent at once for 
 Darius, the negro slave, who in her husband's absence 
 at the war, was master of the establishment, and in 
 two minutes poor Mrs. Winds had gained the clew for 
 following her poor boy. Darius and the rest had seen 
 a Hessian sergeant with a pig in his arms, and had 
 seen Oscar running madly after, defying and threaten 
 ing the marauders, though he could not overtake them. 
 Phcebe even testified, truly or not, that she had tried 
 to stop the boy ; but he would not hearken, but tore 
 away. " He would have his pig," he had said. " It 
 was his own pig, and his father had given it to him on 
 Independence Day." 
 
 Ill, 
 
 Madam Maxwell gave excellent counsel ; but Mrs. 
 Winds was in no state to receive counsel. She could 
 hardly wait with civility for the end of the stately speech 
 of the dignified lady. She went in pursuit. She passed 
 quickly up the main street, meaning, indeed, to come 
 to the rescue in person. Since the troops arrived, she 
 
250 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 had scornfully refused to enter the town. But the 
 gossip of the neighborhood had told her where the 
 general was quartered ; and, indeed, the instinct of a 
 soldier's wife would have led her to the inn, which men 
 still called the ' ' Crown and Rose, ' ' where a sort of 
 market-place is made by the crossing of the road 
 which comes from the ferry into that main street, 
 on which she was hurrying on. At the Crown and 
 Rose, the red-cross flag indicated well enough that 
 here were headquarters. Two Hessian sentinels under 
 took to parley with her ; but she only addressed them in 
 very loud and peremptory English. She made no sign 
 of stopping, but waved them away with the disdain 
 of Queen Katherine or of Lady Macbeth. The men 
 had been scolded a dozen times already since they 
 were put on duty, for one and another thing which 
 they had done, in what they thought obedience to 
 orders. A dozen women had come in and out with 
 adjutant's passes. Perhaps this one would not show 
 her pass. If she did, they knew they could not read 
 it. 
 
 So Mrs. Winds fought her way in and was able to 
 guess her way into the very presence of the general. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Was ist das? Was sagt sie ?" said the general in 
 his turn, looking with eyes somewhat bleared, through 
 the cloud of smoke which enveloped him and his aids. 
 
 " What is it ? What does she say ?" The aid, who 
 was least stupefied by beer, and who, as it happened, 
 knew most English of the party, asked Madam Winds 
 to speak more slowly, and, with some difficulty, 
 extorted the details of the story. When he had done 
 so he turned good-naturedly enough to the general 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON^ PIG. 251 
 
 and said, " She has lost her little boy, and she wants 
 to find him." 
 
 " Her little boy, what is that to me?" hiccoughed 
 the general ; "he is not my boy." And he laughed 
 stupidly enough. " Tell her to go about her business." 
 
 The aid turned to make this uncivil reply a little 
 civil. 
 
 "Tell him," said Lucretia Winds stiffly, "that if 
 he does not know where Oscar Winds is, he can find 
 out. Tell him I shall stay here till he does find." 
 
 And she drew one of the wicker-bottomed arm-chairs 
 out from the wall and sat down in it in front of the 
 fire. 
 
 " Was ist das? Was sagt sie f said the general 
 again, observing the movement more than the accent 
 of the woman. 
 
 The aid was pretty well frightened by this time ; but 
 he explained as well as he might the substance of 
 Lucretia Winds's defiance. 
 
 Of which the issue was, as need hardly be said, that 
 in less than five minutes a file of red coats had taken 
 Lucretia Winds and had marched her also to the 
 guard-house. 
 
 V. 
 
 Madam Maxwell waited at her window, somewhat un 
 easily, to watch for Mrs. Winds's return. Mrs. Winds 
 did not return, as the reader knows. Madam Max 
 well became more and more uneasy. When it was 
 nearly sundown she bade Darius send round the 
 carriage, and Darius, who happened to find life dull and 
 was willing to try some adventure, consented. The 
 carriage came round in less than half an hour, and 
 Madam Maxwell, elegantly arrayed for a visit, entered 
 
252 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 it at once. She bade Philemon, the coachman, take 
 her at once to the house of the Rev. Mr. Spencer, the 
 minister of the church. The distance was but a trifle, 
 and, in a few minutes more, the dominie, as all men 
 called him, was sitting in Madam Maxwell's carriage, 
 in conference with her. Yet a few minutes more, and 
 he appeared again from the parsonage with his shovel- 
 hat of state, and dressed in an elegant winter coat 
 trimmed with fur. Philemon was bidden to drive to 
 the Crown and Rose, and did so. The dominie 
 bade the sentinel say that Madam Maxwell and the 
 Rev. Mr. Spencer wished to see the officer of the day. 
 In a few moments they were ushered into the same 
 room from which Mrs. Winds had been so unceremo 
 niously ejected. 
 
 The general was still there. It must be confessed 
 that the Hessian beer was not light, and that he was 
 more stolid even than when Mrs. Winds parted from 
 him. Madam Maxwell had taken the dominie with her, 
 with the double hope, first, that his dignity and the re 
 spect due his cloth would carry some weight in the in 
 terview ; second, with a vague feeling that the Latin 
 language might be the medium of communication with 
 the general. She had heard her father say that Sir 
 Robert Walpole talked Latin with George the First. 
 
 In fact, Mr. Spencer began his courtly address to the 
 aid by saying, ' ' Salve, Domine, " as he bowed respect 
 fully. But the German had not the least idea what he 
 meant, and, in fact, spoke English quite well enough 
 for all purposes of the interview. 
 
 The dominie explained that they had come in search 
 of Mrs. Winds. In perfect good faith, the officer 
 expressed his ignorance and surprise. It really did not 
 occur to him that people whose social rank he appre- 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 253 
 
 
 
 hended from the first moment had anything in 
 common with the farmer's wife, whom he had early in 
 the afternoon sent out to the lock-up. With no wish to 
 deceive, he said that he knew nothing of the lady they 
 sought, and intimated, as people in office are apt to do, 
 that they had both come to the wrong bureau. The 
 dominie turned to Madam Maxwell for instructions, 
 somewhat relieved to find that he could conduct the 
 conversation in honest English. 
 
 Madam Maxwell hated all Hessians. She suspected 
 a lie. With great sternness she told the dominie what 
 Darius had told her : that Mrs. Winds had been seen 
 to enter the Crown and Rose two hours before. 
 As it happened, Darius had no knowledge of '\er 
 method of departure, which had been conducted with 
 some privacy. 
 
 The adjutant was puzzled ; called an orderly and 
 spoke in German, and asked one or two questions 
 again. Of course, he perceived in a moment more that 
 the other woman, resolute or crazy, who had announced 
 her intention of waiting for her son in the general's 
 office, was the person whom his guests were seeking. 
 Half amused, he told the dominie, only too frankly, 
 where the prisoner was. Of course, Madam Maxwell 
 heard the explanation. 
 
 She rose to her full height. " Mistress Winds in 
 your filthy guard-house !" she cried indignantly. " It 
 is an infamy. Give an order for her release imme 
 diately." 
 
 Mr. Spencer knew very well that it was not by such 
 language that a Hessian adjutant was to be led. He 
 did his best to soothe his principal, and he succeeded 
 so far as to make her sit down and listen, for a moment, 
 to his advocacy of her cause. 
 
*54 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 The dominie felt all the importance of the crisis. 
 
 In a vague hope that the general might understand 
 him, he turned to him and began with the best pro 
 nunciation of Princeton, to address both officers in 
 Latin. 
 
 " Si placet vobis, Domini," he said, somewhat con 
 fidently. But the amazement on the adjutant's face 
 controlled him, and he went on in more hurried 
 English. 
 
 " I assure you, gentlemen, I assure you, my lords," 
 for the "Domini" still stuck in his head, " these are 
 our most respectable citizens. Captain Winds and 
 Colonel Maxwell are two of our most worthy citizens. 
 These ladies are both worthy of your entire consider 
 ation." 
 
 The officer tapped impatiently with his foot upon 
 the floor. 
 
 41 Mrs. Maxwell wishes to explain to the general 
 that the mother is well-nigh beside herself, because 
 she has lost her child. Have not you a child ? Has 
 not the general a child?" said the dominie, rising 
 to pathos. 
 
 " No brats have I ; no brats have the general," cried 
 the officer, impatiently. 
 
 ' This is one free country, indeed," he said, rising 
 from his chair. The boys expect His Majesty's officers 
 to find their pigs ! The crazy women expect His Ma 
 jesty's officers to find their boys ! The ladies of the 
 court expect His Majesty's officers to find the crazy 
 women ! And I suppose next I shall have His Honor 
 the Burgomaster, and His Excellency the Swineherd, 
 coming here to inquire what has become of the fine 
 lady and the court preacher." 
 
 He moved his hand toward the door, to intimate that 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 255 
 
 the interview was ended ; called an orderly, bade him 
 put a log of wood upon the fire, and sat down, turning 
 his back to his visitors. 
 
 The dominie saw the meaning of the adjutant, and in 
 one rash moment sealed his own fate. He crossed the 
 room, and, with a quick, almost impetuous, gesture, 
 seized the hand of the general, and cried eagerly and in 
 a loud voice, because he spoke to a man of another 
 nation : 
 
 "Audito, audito, obsecro, domini, verba labrorum," 
 " Hear me, hear me, sir, I beg you, these words of my 
 lips. " But he went no further. The general was stupid 
 with beer, almost to the point of incompetency, quite 
 to that of fatuity. Either because he was drunk enough 
 to think himself attacked, or because he was angry 
 enough to think himself insulted, he struck with his 
 fist a square blow in the dominie's face, and seized 
 him by the collar of his coat. 
 
 Madam Maxwell rushed forward, she hardly knew 
 why. The orderly flung down his log and threw him 
 self upon both of them. The adjutant turned at the 
 noise, rushed across the room, and in his action threw 
 down the table on which the candles stood. The sun 
 had already set, and the red fire gave the only light 
 upon the scene. 
 
 The voice of the general, mingling imprecations 
 and command, called in the officer of the day and a file 
 of soldiers. By this time the orderly had the parson's 
 hands tightly held behind him. 
 
 The general gave the soldiers some very peremptory 
 and profane directions ; and, in a minute more, the 
 parson and Madam Maxwell in their turn were 
 marched to the guard -house to spend the night in 
 company with Mrs. Winds and with Oscar. 
 
256 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 VI, 
 
 So easily did it happen, or so hardly, as the reader 
 may choose to have it, that Mrs. Winds and her son, 
 Madam Maxwell and her minister spent their Christ 
 mas together in the school-house, where Oscar had 
 often been whipped, and where the dominie had often 
 heard the catechism of the children. The officer in 
 charge was, perhaps, one of the few people on that 
 outpost who was thoroughly sober as Christmas day 
 came in. He had been annoyed when Oscar was 
 brought to him, angry when Mrs. Winds came, and 
 now was fairly horrified when Madam Maxwell and 
 the dominie were brought in. He knew quite enough 
 of the temper of the people to know that such an 
 insult was enough to rouse them to bring the whole 
 building about his head, if only every white man in 
 the town, as he well knew, had not been away 
 under Colonel Maxwell's command. And he was 
 soldier enough and gentleman enough to know that 
 such retaliation was well deserved. He did his best, 
 therefore, to make his prisoners comfortable. When 
 Darius arrived, soon after his mistress, the major did 
 not repress his suggestion that he could bring down 
 from the manse and from the mansion something for 
 the supper and the other comforts of all parties. 
 Darius had served with his master in other wars ; and 
 although, to his rage, he was now regarded as quite 
 too old to take the field again, he had not forgotten 
 that the commissariat is the most important single 
 element in any campaign. 
 
 Still it would be absurd to say that either of the three 
 rescuers slept much that night. As for Oscar, not 
 rescued after all, he slept as well as even the poor pig 
 had ever slept, who had been the unwilling cause of 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 257 
 
 the whole calamity. Oscar had had appetite quite 
 sufficient for the supper, even sumptuous, which 
 Darius had brought down to the guard-house. He 
 had proposed, unsuccessfully, to his mother that they 
 should play school with these admirable appurte 
 nances, of a real rod and real benches, and he had even 
 shyly intimated that the dominie could hear them both 
 say the catechism. But his mother had no heart for 
 such amusement, at best but sombre. To Oscar, since 
 her arrival, the imprisonment had wholly ceased to be 
 a punishment. Indeed, while the school-house was 
 detestable to him at the regular hour and in the proper 
 way, there was a wild delight to him now, that he 
 could sleep in the master's chair if he would, or dance 
 from bench to bench, not blamed. He slept the sleep 
 of childhood, and waked to a boy's indifference as to 
 the future. 
 
 And, in the morning, the " incident would have been 
 exhausted," perhaps, as our French friends say, had it 
 not been Christmas day. But alas ! when the major 
 himself repaired to headquarters to obtain some sort 
 .of permission to release his captives, he found no one 
 in a condition to give it. 
 
 The preparations for Christmas made by the general 
 and by the headquarters' staff began so early, and the 
 drinking they had thought necessary had proved so 
 deep, that the subordinate officers even had soon found 
 themselves without oversight, and had followed the 
 welcome example of their seniors. To the poor major, 
 as he entered the Crown and Rose, it was clear enough 
 that those who were not dead drunk were dead asleep, 
 and that he must act on his own responsibility. Alas ! 
 he knew too well his general's temper when he waked 
 from such sleep, and, knowing that, he dared not set 
 
258 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 his prisoners at large. It was only too far probable 
 that the general might have, the next day, some recol 
 lection of his prisoners and ask what had become of 
 them. 
 
 So Darius brought down to the school-house the 
 rabbit pie which Madam Maxwell had garnished with 
 her own hands for a Christmas breakfast piece, with 
 tarts, cakes, waffles, and other dainties, enough for 
 twenty people, and, by the major's permission, him 
 self entered, for the first time, the place of confine 
 ment, and spread these viands on the schoolmaster's 
 table. His own proposition was that the whole party 
 should escape from the back window ; and he ex 
 plained, only too loudly, the means by which he and 
 Primus would assist and cover this manoeuvre. But 
 Madam Maxwell and the dominie were still on the 
 high ropes of indignation. ' They have haled us to 
 prison openly and uncondemned, being Romans I 
 mean Britons I mean Americans," said the parson, 
 in an oratory which failed him a little at the close, 
 " and now do they put us out privily. Nay verily, let 
 them come themselves and fetch us out." And it was 
 all in vain for Darius to suggest that both the general 
 and the officer-of-the-day were quite too drunk to 
 do any such thing. 
 
 Darius had to satisfy himself, therefore, when noon 
 day came, by placing his ladder at the large window 
 of the school-house, and by this inconvenient route 
 bringing up the roast goose, the mince pies, and the 
 Marlboroughs, and the other delicacies which were to 
 make the Christmas dinner of the prisoners. The 
 major would have made no difficulty about receiving 
 them through the door in the ground floor. But 
 seeing that the stealthy route pleased the negro, he 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 259 
 
 kept himself and his sentinels discreetly out of the 
 way. When the dinner was served the parson so far 
 relented as to ask the major and his aid to join them, 
 which they were not sorry to do. All parties had 
 better appetites than might have been feared. And 
 when the soldiers at last withdrew the parson 
 compelled the two ladies to join him in a modest glass 
 of Madeira, as he drank " Long life to General Wash 
 ington, and confusion to the King of England." 
 
 Neither Mrs. Winds nor Madam Maxwell would have 
 believed that Christmas day could be made to pass 
 by so quickly in a school-house. But the sun seemed 
 to set earlier than ever. Darius's stately sconces from 
 the manor-house gave but little light after all. A 
 grim, quiet snow-storm had begun without. The 
 ladies felt now the loss of last night's sleep. Darius 
 had made better preparation for their comfort, and 
 they slept soundly. Even the parson, after adjusting 
 for the fourth time the language of his memorial to 
 the Continental Congress, on the indignity which he 
 had suffered, lost the connection of his thought, and 
 slept as soundly as they. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Trrrrr . . . . ! Rat-tat-tat ! Bourn, bourn, bourn ! 
 
 " Mein Gott ! was ist das ? 'S-Waffen, 'S-Waffen !" 
 
 The major had just time to. utter these cries, his aid, 
 who was wrapped in a blanket and asleep on the floor, 
 had just staggered to his seat and was searching for 
 his sabre, when, with a crash, the door of the school- 
 house flew open, and a file of snow-white soldiers 
 dashed in. 
 
 " Prisoners," cried the first, carrying his bayonet 
 sharply w advance. " Surrender !" 
 
260 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 The major threw up his hand in military salute, as 
 token that he made no resistance, and bade his aid 
 submit as well. As one and another Hessian private 
 straggled in from the back room, where they had been 
 piled together, their commander bade them lay down 
 such arms as they had. 
 
 Maxwell, the American officer in command, asked if 
 there were any troops up-stairs. 
 
 " Drei Gefangene" said the major, and Maxwell 
 was philologist and soldier enough to guess that this 
 meant " three prisoners." He ran up in person to 
 relieve them, and, to his amazement, rushed into the 
 arms of his frightened wife ! 
 
 The prisoners had heard the alarm ; had supposed 
 that there was a drunken fight in the street, and were 
 wondering if their last hour was come. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The snow was quite too deep for Madam Maxwell or 
 for Mrs. Winds to attempt to walk home. But with 
 a few minutes' delay, Philemon arrived with the same 
 equipage which had served for the unfortunate visit to 
 the Crown and Rose. 
 
 As Colonel Maxwell, with the two ladies and the 
 little boy, drove rapidly through the street, a detail of 
 soldiers bearing a body on stretchers met them. 
 Maxwell waved his hand to the sergeant in command, 
 and stopped Philemon. 
 
 " It is he ! it is he !" said each of the women, as 
 they saw the white face which looked upward, so 
 silent, just snatching breath, from the Hessian soldier's 
 cloak. 
 
 This was, indeed, General Rail, who had sentenced 
 them to their prison. He had staggered out from 
 
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S PIG. 261 
 
 the Crown and Rose, and mounted his horse, only 
 to ride far enough along the street to meet a soldier's 
 death. 
 
 " Indeed, Maxwell, I would stay a month, as you 
 know, gladly, at another time. But to-day !" 
 
 Thus did General Washington answer Colonel Max 
 well's eager invitation that he and the staff should dine 
 with him. 
 
 "General," said the colonel, in reply, "you must 
 dine somewhere. These fellows will be marched off 
 not before three. Our rear guard will not leave an 
 hour before four. If you do not come, Darius here 
 will cut his throat. My wife and my girls will die, 
 and on your head be it. 
 
 Washington laughed, relented, and the staff, not 
 unwilling, left the rather dubious hospitality of the 
 Crown and Rose. 
 
 Philemon had the joy, not to be described, of driv 
 ing his four beloved bays, whom he had rescued from 
 Hessian captivity, as in slow movement the colonel's 
 open sleigh bore Washington, Sullivan, Reed and the 
 black man's master, through a throng of admiring 
 women, children, negroes and soldiers, all cheering 
 and rejoicing. 
 
 Madam Maxwell, in her brocade of ceremony, 
 received the distinguished party. Good Mistress 
 Winds, her companion in adversity, was not far 
 away. 
 
 Nor was the repast long withheld. " In these times 
 of war we can wait for no one,'* said the proud 
 colonel. 
 
 The dominie's blessing covered wide ground. It 
 alluded to the captivity of the Israelites, and to their 
 
262 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 redemption by Moses, to the imprisonment of Paul 
 and Silas, and the earthquake which shook the prison. 
 
 At last he said, "Amen !" 
 
 Darius had not dared till then to take the pig from 
 the fire. He knew the dominie too well. 
 
 Then he brought his largest platter, with the pig 
 cooked whole, holding a large carrot between his ivory 
 teeth. 
 
 He placed him before General Washington. 
 
 " General," said Maxwell, standing, " let me intro 
 duce to you your own pig." And he told the general 
 the story. 
 
 'Where is the boy, where is the boy ?" cried the 
 general, laughing. 
 
 Oscar appeared, blushing to his hair. 
 
 " My lad," said Washington, "it is not every boy 
 who can give up his pig for his country, or defy a 
 Hessian general at his headquarters. Will you drill all 
 the boys in Trenton, my lad, that I may have them 
 ready when I need them ?' ' 
 
 Oscar stammered out his willingness. 
 
 Five years after, as Washington, with Rochambeau, 
 and the brilliant staff which attended both, rode away 
 from the dusty field at Yorktown, where the " great 
 atonement" had been made in the great surrender, 
 the great chief beckoned to his youngest aid, Lieu 
 tenant Winds. 
 
 A handsome, beardless boy rode up and saluted. 
 
 "Oscar," said the general, "I think your pig is 
 paid f or ! " 
 
 As the professor read, Hector had withdrawn Mrs. 
 Frechette for a minute, and they had conferred. 
 
BLINDMAN'S-BUFF IN A PULLMAN. 263 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," he cried, when the story 
 was done, "the exercises will close with ' Old Hun 
 dred. ' ' And everybody sang : 
 
 "From all that dwell below the skies." 
 
 And the snow men shook hands and left the palace, 
 and most of the rest of the party. Only Hector hinted 
 to a few of the forward passengers that Christmas was 
 not quite over yet. When there were only ten or fif 
 teen of us left in the car, he clapped his hands, and 
 said : 
 
 ' ' I was obliged to wait till we had a little more space. 
 We will conclude our Christmas with ' Blindman's- 
 Buff in a Pullman/ " 
 
 On the instant he leaped upon his seat, bandaged his 
 eyes, began to count a hundred, giving all of us warn 
 ing that at the " hundred" he should break loose upon 
 us all. 
 
 Oh, the wild rebel rout that followed ! The crazy 
 difficulty of stepping out of his way from seat to seat, 
 avoiding and yet seeking the passage-way, and the 
 multiplication, indeed, tenfold of the usual perplexity, 
 of the game by interweaving it with the perplexities of 
 palace life. The handkerchief changed a dozen times 
 before the game came to an end, from the mere bodily 
 exhaustion of us who had been laughing ourselves into 
 tears, as we wildly leaped from section to section. 
 
 " Good-night all, good-night all. Where will the 
 morning find us ?" 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 
 
 PAUL DECKER did not go to bed early. He sought 
 out for himself a lonely nook in front of the trunks in 
 the baggage-car, where, on a three-legged chair, he 
 reflected, and considered the position : 
 
 " Even to you," she had said. " Even." This was 
 the only word by which she had intimated that he was 
 in any way different to her from any other man who 
 lived. 
 
 And it was not forty-eight hours since he first saw 
 her, since he lifted her in his arms and carried her 
 some twenty paces to a chair. 
 
 " Even to you." 
 
 Perhaps she would leave the train at Council Bluffs. 
 Something had been said of Council Bluffs. 
 
 Should he not leave it there also ? 
 
 What should he say, if he did ? 
 
 Should he say, " Miss Bourn, I do not like to have 
 you travel alone in winter. If you please, I will take 
 my ticket to the place you are going to, if you will 
 only tell me where it is." 
 
 Should he say good Heaven ! why might he not 
 say " Miss Bourn, I will stay in that place till I die, 
 if you stay there" ? 
 
 If only he had said that when the story of " Ideals" 
 was finished, why he would now know where he was. 
 
 And if she had been not displeased, why life would 
 be life, and all would be well 
 
PAUL DECKER'S REFLECTIONS. 265 
 
 But what if she had been displeased, if she had been 
 wounded, ' as of course she would be wounded she 
 had not known him two whole days. She would have 
 been hurt or angry, and she would have had a right 
 to be angry. 
 
 It was better that he had not spoken. 
 
 But if 
 
 How would it do to ask Mr. Van Sandfoord, or, 
 perhaps, Mrs. Fr6chette ? She had more experience, 
 and, with all her fun, she was evidently genuine, good 
 and true. 
 
 Yes ; in the morning, after breakfast, Paul would ask 
 Mrs. Frechette. 
 
 But if only the drift would last a month ! 
 
 Perhaps it would. That would be the kingdom of 
 Heaven. 
 
 And Theodora ? 
 
 Caesar made up number three first of all. And Theo 
 dora was first of all to bid the others good-night, and 
 to retire behind her curtains. 
 
 But not to sleep. 
 
 What a goose she had been. 
 
 " Even to you." Did Mr. Decker think her a flirt 
 or a fool ? They had not seen each other two days, 
 and yet she had spoken as if he were her brother, or 
 her cousin nay, had spoken as if she were going to 
 make him her confidant. 
 
 Well, there was one comfort. He would leave the 
 train the next day, and he would never see her again 
 nor she him. 
 
 Would he never see her again ? 
 
 Was she not sure as certainty, in her heart of hearts, 
 that he would see her somehow and somewhere ? 
 
266 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 Ah, Theodora ! it is dark here, and if you want to 
 blush, you may. 
 
 " Well, if he wants to find me, he will find me. 
 Only to-morrow, he must not go into breakfast with 
 us, and he must not sit with us, and I must be 
 careful when there is reading. Yes, I can manage it. 
 I will not be a fool to-morrow." 
 
 And then Theodora began it all over again, and 
 dissected all these questions again, and discussed them 
 once, twice forty times ; but at last, poor girl, she 
 slept. And she slept well. 
 
 And when they woke in the morning they were mov 
 ing ! One and another, indeed, they had had some 
 consciousness of motion, as the morning dawned. 
 
 Yes, a party, as of giants, with ploughs and engines, 
 not to be counted or named, had stormed up through 
 the protected snow-sheds, had come in on the flank 
 of the region where we had been imprisoned, and, as 
 early as two in the morning, our men had heard their 
 whistles, and had whistled cheerily in return. The sky 
 was clear now, though that stiff north-wester was still 
 packing in dry snow. None the less did two hundred 
 men of iron throw out the snow, the plank and the 
 rafters, which were tumbled in confusion together. 
 Steadily and surely the giants drove the heavy ploughs 
 through the drift. And at last Goliath, panting, 
 faced Titan, gasping, and all men and angels knew that 
 the TRACK WAS CLEAR ! 
 
 Quick work then, as all these giants together united 
 their forces to bear the unconscious Christmas party 
 to Plum Creek and Gibbon, to Columbus and Omaha, 
 and to the outward world. 
 
BREAKFAST. 267 
 
 BREAKFAST. 
 
 And Theodora, sandwiched close between Mary and 
 Mrs. Frechette, goes into the breakfast-room, 
 
 Yes, and Paul Decker makes no effort to join them. 
 
 Is he perhaps offended ? " Even to you." 
 
 She loitered at breakfast as long as she dared. 
 
 After breakfast Mrs. Frechette and Mary would sit 
 together talking confidentially, so that poor Paul 
 Decker, who hung round, could not join them. Yet he 
 did not leave the car. Theodora stayed in the state 
 room on some pretence of looking in her box, till Caesar 
 turned her out. 
 
 Paul had to speak to her, for there was no one else 
 at that end of the car. 
 
 He. Good -morning. 
 
 She. Good-morning. 
 
 He. I hope you slept well. That is I was glad 
 Mrs. Frechette said she slept well. We are going 
 on again. 
 
 She. Yes, we are going on again. 
 
 (Pause.) 
 
 He. You are glad we are going on again ? 
 
 She. Oh, yes, I believe yes oh, yes, every one is 
 glad we are going on again. 
 
 He (very glum). I am not glad we are going on 
 again. 
 
 (Pause.) 
 
 He. How busy the ladies seem ! 
 
 She. Yes, they seem very busy. 
 
 He. Are they old friends ? 
 
 She. I do not know. 
 
 (Pause.) 
 
 He. It has done snowing. 
 
268 OUR CHRISTMAS IN A PALACE. 
 
 She (looking out of the window). Yes, it has done 
 snowing. 
 
 He. It snowed very hard. 
 
 She. Yes. 
 
 (Pause.) 
 
 He. Have you friends at Council Bluffs or Omaha ? 
 
 She (starting]. Oh, no, I do not know any one at 
 Council Bluffs or at Omaha, either. 
 
 Ccesar (loudly). What lady or gentleman has dropped 
 a baggage check ? Here's a check some gentleman 
 has lost or some lady. 
 
 Mrs. Frechette. It was I. I always lose them. Let 
 me see it, Caesar. (Looks at the check.) No, it's for 
 PIQUA, PIQUA, OHIO. 
 
 Paul Decker. Then it is mine ; how careless I am ! 
 
 Theodora Bourn. No, it is mine. I put it in my 
 pocket, and it is not there for my large trunk. I 
 gave my other check to you, Mr. Van Sandfoord, and 
 the box is here. 
 
 Paul. Piqua ? You ? I am going to Piqua. 
 
 Theodora. Are you going to Piqua ? Who do you 
 know at Piqua ? 
 
 Paul. I ? Piqua is my home. My father is Decker, 
 of Decker & Strange. 
 
 Theodora. And Strange is my uncle's name it is 
 where I shall spend the winter. 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ 
 
 This book is due on the last DATE stamped below. 
 
 fB 1 1971 
 
 MAR 8 W 
 
 50m-l,'69(J5643s8)2373 3A.1 
 
 ;TORED AT NRLF 
 
PS1 772.09 
 
 3 2106 00206 9471