1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:07,759 The Stairway to Happiness The Story of a Christmas Eve by Dellah Dimmit, Now, 2 00:00:07,839 --> 00:00:12,320 Mamsie, I just will pull those wet rubbers off your poor tired feet 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,199 here, stick them out. Why there's a hole in the heel of this 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,199 one, and you've tried to stop it with a wad of paper. Oh, 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,280 you naughty Mamsie, not to have bought yourself new rubbers instead of the 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,039 muffler. You got me me wearing a muffler, and you with a hole 7 00:00:29,039 --> 00:00:36,320 in your rubbers. Oh, Mamsie Judith, you ridiculous child. The offending 8 00:00:36,399 --> 00:00:41,520 rubber was whisked instantly out of sight, divested of her moist outer garments by 9 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,880 three pairs of willing, girlish hands. The indomitable figure of Mamsie straightened, 10 00:00:47,399 --> 00:00:51,359 showing in the lamp light's glow not a trace of the weariness with which she 11 00:00:51,399 --> 00:00:56,799 had plodded home through the dark, slushy illy lighted streets, not daring to 12 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,159 use even the small price of a car fare. Come children, The voice 13 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,959 was that of a girl herself. Let us see what Ellen has for our 14 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,480 tea to night, same as last night and the night afore, Mamsie, 15 00:01:08,519 --> 00:01:14,519 dear the voice of Ellen, familiarly known as the market Woman, came blithely 16 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,280 floating back from the dining room where she had retired to light up tea and 17 00:01:19,359 --> 00:01:22,640 toast the butter spread a little thinner, just for the sake of variety, 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,920 Would we dare buy a chicken, a very small one, Mamsie, for 19 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:32,400 our Christmas dinner tomorrow? No, dear, the full round cheerfulness of Mamsie's 20 00:01:32,439 --> 00:01:34,599 tone never wavered. You know, we all agreed that this was to be 21 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,959 a penny Christmas and we must abide by the articles. That's all right, 22 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,640 Mamsie, as cheerfully responded the market Woman. I just asked for information, 23 00:01:44,799 --> 00:01:48,959 that was all. There's enough of the cold Heart left over from Sunday's dinner 24 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,719 to serve another meal, and with some fresh dressing, it will be delicious. 25 00:01:53,719 --> 00:01:56,000 Want to hear what's on the boards for tonight, Mamsie? Dear, 26 00:01:56,799 --> 00:02:00,959 Well, we're going to turn ourselves into real Christmas weights for thing after supper 27 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:06,120 and stroll through town singing carols on people's doorsteps. That was Judith's idea, 28 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,759 isn't it clever? And we're going to leave you to do the dishes all 29 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:13,680 by your lone self, Mamsie, you haven't had all the exercise that's rightly 30 00:02:13,719 --> 00:02:16,639 coming to you down at that employment bureau, wrestling with other folk servant girl 31 00:02:16,719 --> 00:02:21,719 problems for the munificent sum of a dollar a day. So we're just going 32 00:02:21,719 --> 00:02:24,599 to let you wash all these dishes. After that you may cuddle up by 33 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:29,560 the fireplace in here and warm your toes into exactly as you please all the 34 00:02:29,599 --> 00:02:32,000 rest of the time we're gone. Only do not go into the east room 35 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,599 where we fix the tree and snip off all your presents to give to somebody 36 00:02:36,599 --> 00:02:39,520 else. We, for our part, have sure lived up to the articles. 37 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,639 For there isn't a blessed thing on that tree or among any of the 38 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,400 packages that Rastus carried round for us this afternoon that cost more than a penny. 39 00:02:47,759 --> 00:02:52,639 And that's a certified fact. Mother, Wait that Judith Dabney, Ellen 40 00:02:52,719 --> 00:02:55,479 Maria and Eileen Mayo Weight can each fix her hand and seal there too. 41 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,319 But Mamsie, I'm desperately afraid some of the dear people exchanging with us have 42 00:03:00,439 --> 00:03:05,759 not lived up to the agreement as they said they would. Aunt Lucy Landis, 43 00:03:05,759 --> 00:03:09,400 for one, has sent a little remembrance in a great big bandbox affair, 44 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:15,199 and some of the other packages are sizeable and hefty too. In that 45 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:20,639 case, and Mamsie's face was gravity itself. I would advise the calling in 46 00:03:20,759 --> 00:03:23,800 of a committee to appraise the gifts all round. And if by any chance 47 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:30,240 someone's offering exceeds your own in value, why carry it back without delay and 48 00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:34,560 demand your own on the spot. Let us preserve our independence though the heavens 49 00:03:34,599 --> 00:03:39,199 fall. But mother, a bright red spot burned in either of Judith's smooth, 50 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:44,080 olive cheeks. We girls don't mind being poor the least little bit in 51 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:49,039 the world. It's only being paupers that hurts, I understand, Dear, 52 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:53,680 returned Mamsie, who, knowing a better way, never argued with her daughters. 53 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:58,240 Now wrap up warmly, she admonished, as the girls rose from the 54 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,840 table, leaving her to finish her tea alone. Put on your muffler, 55 00:04:00,919 --> 00:04:04,439 Judith, and don't expose that precious throat, Dear, more than you can 56 00:04:04,479 --> 00:04:11,240 help my charming weights, she exclaimed, as presently the gay group came flitting 57 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,479 down the stairway, cloaked for the street, their dainty heads all bound in 58 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,639 bright scarves. What a sweet way you have chosen to usher in the Christmas 59 00:04:18,759 --> 00:04:25,319 joys. Now give all our dear dear friends your mother's kindliest greeting, and 60 00:04:25,439 --> 00:04:30,600 thank each one who has in any way contributed to our own Christmas. We 61 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,120 can, still, in spite of our changed circumstances, afford to be gracious. 62 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:40,040 Tell Miss Eliza Elkins that I am promising myself the pleasure of a little 63 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,959 visit with her tomorrow, directly after dinner. She will understand why we cannot 64 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,920 this year invite our friends to us, And say to Doctor Gliddon that I 65 00:04:47,959 --> 00:04:51,720 wish him to accept with my dearest love, this gift in remembrance of your 66 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,519 father. You are all willing, are you not? That I should part 67 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,959 with it? She had risen as she spoke from the meagerly furnished tea table, 68 00:05:01,519 --> 00:05:05,560 and drawn from a secret drawer in a man's much worn desk, still 69 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:12,279 filled with his unused possessions, a packet wrapped in fine tissue paper a watch. 70 00:05:12,319 --> 00:05:16,639 It proved to be a watch of magnificent workmanship and priceless, for it 71 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,560 had been presented to the dead father of the girls by the Medical Association of 72 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,720 his state. As the lines engraved on the inner lid of the watch read 73 00:05:26,199 --> 00:05:31,839 in token of appreciation for his distinguished service in behalf of suffering humanity. How 74 00:05:31,879 --> 00:05:38,600 sweet of you, mother, How sweet Judith's voice was pointed with little tender 75 00:05:38,639 --> 00:05:44,399 thrills. May I carry it over. With the departure of the girls, 76 00:05:44,519 --> 00:05:48,720 the old house grew strangely oppressively quiet. But to the mother it was an 77 00:05:48,759 --> 00:05:53,800 intense relief to sink into the shabby, sheltering arms of the chair that had 78 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:58,959 been her husband's, and there alone, among the wavering shadows of the fire 79 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,959 lit room, with no solicitous young eyes on her, just be without dissimulation. 80 00:06:04,439 --> 00:06:11,879 What in sad reality she was only a tired, utterly dispirited woman with 81 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,639 the battle of life going against her. Brooding was a costly luxury, but 82 00:06:16,759 --> 00:06:21,040 she gave herself up to it, And as the images of the old bright 83 00:06:21,199 --> 00:06:26,839 days when a strong arm had shielded her and her little brood from the rigors 84 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:31,279 of a hard world without rose before her, tears forced themselves between the tightly 85 00:06:31,319 --> 00:06:38,279 closed eyelids in the secrecy of her heart. She was compelled to admit the 86 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:43,560 sheer, blank wall confronting her whichever way she turned. There was the matter 87 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,680 of the twins being kept in the academy the remainder of the year, the 88 00:06:46,759 --> 00:06:51,560 tuition she might, by dint of closer management, yet possibly provide for, 89 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:59,040 But their graduation gowns and other incidentals were beyond her power of obtaining. Then 90 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,240 there were judas mens music lessons, so few remaining until the child could complete 91 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:09,079 the course and measurably fit herself for teaching the art she so passionately loved. 92 00:07:09,959 --> 00:07:14,639 But that too was not to be thought of. Already they were restricting themselves 93 00:07:14,639 --> 00:07:18,160 in the matter of living expenses to the barest necessities. It had gone to 94 00:07:18,199 --> 00:07:23,519 her heart to deny Ellen's unspoken wish in the matter of the Christmas dinner, 95 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:28,680 but it had to be done silently. She lifted up her heart in a 96 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,240 prayer for sustaining grace and a yet larger human wisdom in meeting these and all 97 00:07:33,279 --> 00:07:40,079 emergencies. At the first sound of tripping feet, she drew herself up, 98 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,439 and, as though by some magic, seemed to become young and eager eyed 99 00:07:44,439 --> 00:07:49,120 again, Oh Mamsie, the gay weight, Their cheeks flushed, their eyes 100 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:54,360 sparkling, and all speaking at once burst in upon her. Such a time 101 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:59,959 as we've had, such a wonderful, wonderful time. Why you haven't watched 102 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,839 the dishes, girl, She hasn't washed the dishes, nor cleared the table. 103 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:09,160 And above the din rose Mamsie's own blithe voice, denying the charge of 104 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,079 mooning, and engaging to do the forgotten dishes twice next day by way of 105 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,959 penance. If only they might be allowed to stand tonight, since this was 106 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:24,399 Christmas Eve. Now tell me all that happened. Mamsie's expressive face shone with 107 00:08:24,439 --> 00:08:28,279 the light of anticipation. Mamsie's voice quivered under the enchantment of the hour, 108 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,720 still as pretty as any of her girls. What a picture Mamsie made, 109 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:39,200 and what a Christmas Eve they were all having. Now, don't leave out 110 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:43,039 a bit. I'm wild to know what everybody did and said. I know 111 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:46,240 they must all have thought it bright and clever, a really beautiful thing in 112 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:52,000 you to turn yourselves into real Christmas weights and come singing their festivities in Where 113 00:08:52,039 --> 00:08:56,559 did you go first? Why, Mamsie? What a question to doctor Gliddon's, 114 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:01,519 of course. And when the dear blessed old man came and softly opened 115 00:09:01,519 --> 00:09:05,279 his door, and we could see him sitting there inside with his grand white 116 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,720 head bowed, listening with his hand up to his good ear. We just 117 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,120 stole inside and made a little circle round him and sang him every one of 118 00:09:13,159 --> 00:09:18,600 our carols. Then we presented him the watch, and he arose and made 119 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:22,840 us a little speech. I don't believe any of us ever quite realized before. 120 00:09:22,519 --> 00:09:26,679 I'm afraid we did not what a perfectly splendid man our father was. 121 00:09:28,519 --> 00:09:31,200 But doctor Gliddon told us some things about him to night Mother, some things 122 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,159 which he had done for folks, oh, poor suffering folks who could never 123 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:39,399 pay him anything, you know. That made us feel very exalted and very 124 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:46,039 humble too. And then doctor Gliddon just slipped father's watch inside his pocket and 125 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:50,200 said he would carry it, thinking ever of his great and good friend Wyndham 126 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:54,120 Weight, and hoped that he himself might one day pass it back into our 127 00:09:54,159 --> 00:10:00,480 family again, untarnished and with its usefulness unimpaired. Why it was just as 128 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,039 though Mother, he were giving us some great and unspeakable gift, instead of 129 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:07,919 us giving him one any man can give, dear, But it takes a 130 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:13,840 gentleman to receive Mamsie's voice thrilled. So when the watch finally comes back into 131 00:10:13,879 --> 00:10:18,559 your hands, its value will be enhanced by all the sacred and beautiful memories 132 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,919 of the christly minister who received both your father and mother into the church, 133 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,279 married them, christened their three children, and read the commitment service over your 134 00:10:28,279 --> 00:10:35,919 father's grave. The dear doctor well where next to miss Eliza's, and we 135 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:39,080 found her crying over Eileen's letter calendar. She had just opened it because she 136 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:43,399 couldn't wait any longer. And the poor old soul kept saying, three hundred 137 00:10:43,399 --> 00:10:48,600 and sixty five letters, three hundred and sixty five letters, all for me. 138 00:10:48,279 --> 00:10:52,679 I can't die this year. I've simply got to keep alive until the 139 00:10:52,759 --> 00:10:56,759 last one of those letters is read. So then we told her that the 140 00:10:56,879 --> 00:11:01,080 very last of all was the autograph letter from General Lee to great Aunt Sallie 141 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,360 Wcut on the eve of her marriage. And miss Eliza said, children, 142 00:11:05,759 --> 00:11:09,600 has Sallie Wait committed that treasure to my hands? And mother, you'd have 143 00:11:09,639 --> 00:11:15,519 thought she held an empire's crown jewels in her hands. Oh, I can 144 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:20,039 well believe it, tremulously, responded missus Waite. For Miss Eliza, then, 145 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,639 in her beautiful girlhood, was bridesmaid to Aunt Sallie, and her own 146 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:30,080 sweetheart was one of the General's aides, and after his early tragic death, 147 00:11:30,519 --> 00:11:33,600 the General wrote Miss Liza a letter, but her letter was lost in the 148 00:11:33,639 --> 00:11:39,879 family's flight that next year out of Petersburg. Yes, yes, dear miss 149 00:11:39,919 --> 00:11:45,480 Eliza, I knew she would prize that letter above all earthly possessions. And 150 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:48,879 Missus French, poor lady, did you sing under her window? Oh yes, 151 00:11:48,919 --> 00:11:52,879 Mamsie. And when we told them we wanted to come once a week 152 00:11:52,919 --> 00:11:56,159 throughout the year and sing as our Christmas present to them, the Major followed 153 00:11:56,200 --> 00:12:00,759 us outside to thank us and to whisper that this would be the most acceptable 154 00:12:00,799 --> 00:12:05,000 gift we could possibly have brought. That Missus French was always better for days 155 00:12:05,039 --> 00:12:09,759 after one of our little sings. And oh, Mamsie, old bedridden Missus 156 00:12:09,799 --> 00:12:13,320 Maynard was so happy over her portable window garden gay and all those blossoms we 157 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:18,639 had coaxed out under the window glass. And Aunt Lucy exclaimed and kept on 158 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,120 exclaiming over Ellen's sewing basket made out of the cheese box, lacquered and lined 159 00:12:22,159 --> 00:12:26,039 with the flounce off my old pink dimity. Really it did look handsome with 160 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:31,159 those bands of brass beating tacked around it, and it just fitted into the 161 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,759 jet in her bay window, and oh, everybody else was charmed, and 162 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,240 it was such fun. Why, Mother, it just seemed like we actually 163 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:41,799 had more to give this year, when we thought the locusts had just about 164 00:12:41,799 --> 00:12:45,639 eaten us out of everything we possessed than we ever had to give before. 165 00:12:46,519 --> 00:12:48,720 They all seemed to think that even if we hadn't put money, as we 166 00:12:48,759 --> 00:12:54,279 had put time and ingenuity and heaps of love, or as Aunt Lucy Landis 167 00:12:54,279 --> 00:12:58,399 expressed it, we had put ourselves, the whole of ourselves into our home 168 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,279 made presents. Why it was beautiful, just beautiful, Mother, And we 169 00:13:03,279 --> 00:13:05,559 were so carried away by the spirit of it, and feeling so sort of 170 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:11,279 Christmasy ourselves that we forgot everything about the bank breaking and us losing all the 171 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:13,679 money we had in the world. And do you know what we've gone and 172 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:16,720 done? Mother? Why we told miss Eliza and Doctor Gliddon and Major and 173 00:13:16,759 --> 00:13:20,679 missus French that we were expecting them all quite as usual for Christmas dinner tomorrow. 174 00:13:22,519 --> 00:13:26,360 We never meant to Mother, truly we didn't, But what else were 175 00:13:26,399 --> 00:13:28,399 we to say when every one of them said to us that they supposed they 176 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:33,159 were to come as usual to us? Tomorrow. Whatever are we going to 177 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,240 do about it, Mamsie. Do Mamsie's heart, it is true, gave 178 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,559 one dismayed bound, but not for worlds and more worlds? Would she have 179 00:13:41,639 --> 00:13:46,720 let her girls know it? Do? Why? We will make them all 180 00:13:46,759 --> 00:13:50,879 welcome. Of course. We will set out our best china and my finest 181 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:54,960 damask in the silver service that was your great great grandmother's, which has graced 182 00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:00,000 every like occasion all these years, And with Doctor Gliddon's dear voice invoking God's 183 00:14:00,039 --> 00:14:03,960 blessing upon us, all even warmed over heart, will furnish a feast. 184 00:14:03,759 --> 00:14:07,840 Besides, I think there is little of the quince marmalade left, and with 185 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,200 some of Ellen's milk biscuit, I have no doubt but that we shall fare 186 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:16,639 famously. Now let us have our tree. But first, if you are 187 00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:20,159 not too hoarse, sing just for me. It came upon the midnight clear 188 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,799 Mamsie seated at the old piano, touching the time stained keys with light fingers, 189 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:33,440 listened with straining heart for the lines. And ye beneath life's crushing load, 190 00:14:33,919 --> 00:14:39,559 whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful 191 00:14:39,639 --> 00:14:46,000 steps and slow look now for glad and golden hours. Come swiftly on the 192 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:52,600 wing oh rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing. The 193 00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:58,559 little glimmering Southern Pine, soon relieved of its light burden of home gifts, 194 00:14:58,039 --> 00:15:05,679 stood in uncom promising stiffness above the packages from outside acquaintances. Judith picked up 195 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,679 the band box affair and handed it to her mother, saying, with a 196 00:15:09,679 --> 00:15:13,120 little catch in her voice, I don't care if there's a town lot in 197 00:15:13,159 --> 00:15:16,759 side of this, mother. If Doctor Gliddon could receive father's watch and Miss 198 00:15:16,799 --> 00:15:20,799 Eliza Aunt Sally's letter in the spirit in which they were both given, we 199 00:15:20,879 --> 00:15:24,960 are mighty poor in soul if we haven't caught a little bit of their nobleness. 200 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,759 Take off the lid, Mamsie. But the band box, unwrapped, 201 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:35,720 yielded nothing but a round footrest that stood apologetically on four wobbly screw legs, 202 00:15:37,279 --> 00:15:43,120 and some other articles, crying loudly their home manufacture. Poor Aunt Lucy Landis 203 00:15:43,159 --> 00:15:46,320 had done her conscientious best, but even the girls could see that it had 204 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:52,360 been the most dismal kind of failure. They stood in a little hushed group, 205 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,279 thinking remorsefully of what it must have cost this most generous of friends to 206 00:15:56,399 --> 00:16:03,519 have dispatched these poor contrivances. Oh, Mamsie exclaimed Judith contritely, weren't we 207 00:16:03,679 --> 00:16:07,840 vulgar? Weren't we vulgar? Though? To go around telling folks that because 208 00:16:07,879 --> 00:16:12,159 we were poor they couldn't pay anything for the presents they gave us not vulgar, 209 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:18,480 dear, amended Mamsie, only thoughtless and a little unmindful of the rights 210 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,559 of others who like to give as well as to receive. They would not 211 00:16:22,639 --> 00:16:27,120 perhaps have admitted it, but there was a sense of disappointment, of something 212 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:32,759 lacking, which even the cards and notes, freighted with love and tender wishes 213 00:16:32,759 --> 00:16:37,159 could not altogether cover. Deeper than the dearth of gifts or the meagerness of 214 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:42,600 such as were sent, was the consciousness of pain inflicted on some whose friendship 215 00:16:42,639 --> 00:16:47,840 had made much of the sweetness of life to them all. But they were 216 00:16:47,879 --> 00:16:52,320 not left long to such reveries, for presently there broke a sound as of 217 00:16:52,399 --> 00:16:56,759 shuffling feet on the back gallery, some colored person, doubtless come to ask 218 00:16:56,799 --> 00:17:03,399 a donation for a Christmas festivity. Mamsie's first regretful thought was that, for 219 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,359 the first and only time in her life, she would be compelled to deny 220 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:12,079 any such demand on her slender resources. Then it was that Judith, upon 221 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:18,640 opening the door, received the warm, soft little bundle being thrust unceremoniously upon 222 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:23,400 her. Instinctively her arms close round it. Those of her family within the 223 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:29,480 inner room caught the drawling, honeyed voice such as the southern negress alone of 224 00:17:29,519 --> 00:17:33,960 all the world possesses, saying, tell miss Sallie, I'd nun waited a 225 00:17:33,039 --> 00:17:37,920 mighty long time on them, no count white folks what never come back after 226 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,440 this her baby, And I'd just blage to get back home and change this 227 00:17:41,559 --> 00:17:45,680 old dress and get all my good shoes, and say to miss Sallie child, 228 00:17:45,799 --> 00:17:48,279 if she'd be pleased to look after it till we all's church Christmas suppers 229 00:17:48,279 --> 00:17:52,960 over, I'll shaw'll come back and rid her of it. P is like 230 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:57,079 to me the same rich, warm voice went on complainingly that some folks as 231 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,319 mighty careless of their chillin drop an I'm raul for we old a tan what 232 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:04,720 ain't no kin to em at all? Missus Waite came hastening to the door. 233 00:18:06,519 --> 00:18:10,400 Oh suki, she broke in at once. Has no one from the 234 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:14,240 foundling's home been over yet after that, poor little knight, Why, of 235 00:18:14,279 --> 00:18:17,680 course I will keep the baby. You did perfectly right to bring it over 236 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,960 to me, Only do not come back for it. Not to night, 237 00:18:21,039 --> 00:18:25,319 Suki, I myself will see that it is cared for this one night at 238 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:30,160 least, She closed the door on the already rapidly retreating Suki, whose thoughts 239 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,960 were all centered on the church supper and her own proper adorning for that all 240 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:40,759 important function. Meanwhile, Judith had carried her unsought burden into the warmth and 241 00:18:40,839 --> 00:18:45,240 light of the living room, and was engaged in unswathing the coarse, soiled 242 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,839 wrappings from about a plump and fuzzy headed baby, who fixed a pair of 243 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:56,640 unwinking and very blue eyes upon her and continued steadily to regard her. Howdy 244 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:02,920 do inquired the object of this concentrated screw affably, while the other girls gathered 245 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,680 round in laughing wonderment, all questioning at once where did he come from? 246 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,160 Mamsie? Is it a him? Or is he a her? Oh? 247 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,960 Isn't he the darlingest thing? Ever? He's ours to keep, isn't he? 248 00:19:15,039 --> 00:19:19,440 Mamsie? In the midst of such rapid cross fire, of inquiries piecemeal, 249 00:19:19,599 --> 00:19:25,319 such slight details as were known concerning the baby came out. He had 250 00:19:25,319 --> 00:19:30,359 been found. Indeed, Mamsie herself had picked him up that morning, having 251 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,240 almost stepped upon the odd looking bundle wrapped about with a soiled gray blanket and 252 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:38,400 thrust a short way within a dark alley through which she was hastening to reach 253 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:44,400 the office on time. It appeared to be a simple case of child abandonment, 254 00:19:45,079 --> 00:19:48,920 although no trace of any person or persons leaving a child had as yet 255 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:53,160 been found, other than a mover's wagon with tightly drawn cover had been seen 256 00:19:53,279 --> 00:19:57,480 very early that morning in the neighborhood of the alley into which the baby had 257 00:19:57,519 --> 00:20:03,640 been placed. The supposition was that these were the people who had cast off 258 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,960 the child. There had been some talk of pursuing the wagon, but or 259 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,200 so Mamsie argued, the persons in the wagon had shown their unfitness for any 260 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:18,200 responsibility on its behalf, parental or otherwise by their heartless act of abandonment, 261 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,960 and so she was inclined to believe that no move had been made in the 262 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,960 matter. At least she hoped that none had been made. She said this 263 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:30,240 with her eyes resting on the baby, thinking how soft and tender a blue 264 00:20:30,279 --> 00:20:34,400 his eyes were, and thinking too of the hardness of heart of any who 265 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:40,519 could cast adrift on a cold December morning, so small and helpless a creature. 266 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,799 What do you suppose his name is, Mamsie? Could you make a 267 00:20:44,839 --> 00:20:48,519 guess just by looking at him? Suddenly asked Judith, transferring her interest from 268 00:20:48,519 --> 00:20:53,720 the uninteresting matter of the baby's guardians to the baby itself, who still maintained 269 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,640 a fixity of gaze, as though he would determine what sort of a strange 270 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:02,720 creature this was, with the vivid red cheeks and the very dark eyes, 271 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,480 who seemed to have appropriated him all to herself. I'll tell you what he 272 00:21:07,519 --> 00:21:11,000 looks like, said Ellen, her head turned critically to one side. He 273 00:21:11,079 --> 00:21:15,200 looks why, he looks, for all the world like a chicken. That's 274 00:21:15,279 --> 00:21:19,200 just Pip the shell. I say, let's call him Pip. Pip Pip, 275 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:25,359 Oh, you dear fuzzy headed Pip, Mamsie, I say, Mamsie, 276 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,319 can't we keep Pip for our very own Yes, yes, Mamsie, 277 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,960 they won, and all now chimed in. Do let us keep him? 278 00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:36,039 It won't take any more to feed Pip than it does to feed one of 279 00:21:36,039 --> 00:21:40,319 the kittens. This from Ellen, and I'll make all his clothes. I'll 280 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:44,200 wash an iron for him too, This from Judith. Yes, do let 281 00:21:44,319 --> 00:21:48,400 us keep him? Do do? Now? They were all three talking clamorously 282 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,880 at once. Please do, Mamsie. We won't let him be one speck 283 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:53,640 of trouble to you. We'll give the white kitten and the gray kitten, 284 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,519 and yes, the Maltese kitten all away. Indeed we will, Mamsie, 285 00:21:57,559 --> 00:22:02,000 just as soon as ever we can find good Christmas holmes for them. Please 286 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:07,000 say that we may keep Pip. Mamsie said nothing at all. She only 287 00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:10,920 looked at little Pip. They couldn't keep him, of course they couldn't. 288 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:15,160 It was not to be considered for one moment. But what a dear, 289 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,839 downy yellow head Pip had. It cost far more to keep a baby than 290 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,960 it did to keep a kitten, or two kittens, or three kittens, 291 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:27,039 or any number of kittens. Mamsie knew that if the girls didn't, No, 292 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:32,160 she could not, She positively could not allow herself to think of it. 293 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,599 But what round wondering eyes Pip had, and so blue? No, 294 00:22:37,839 --> 00:22:42,599 she must not, she positively must not. So stealing her heart as she 295 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:47,640 invariably tried to steal it Whenever a new wave of a kitten appeared to have 296 00:22:47,759 --> 00:22:52,079 its fate decided, she began quite firmly, I am sure you wouldn't have 297 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,640 me, When all at once it flashed upon her that it was on just 298 00:22:56,799 --> 00:23:02,400 such a night as this the inn had been too full to receive another such 299 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:07,160 little child. No, I am sure you wouldn't have me, she recommenced, 300 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,519 in a strangely altered voice, turn a helpless baby out into the wet 301 00:23:11,559 --> 00:23:17,519 and storm of of a Christmas eve. Oh Pip, you're going to be 302 00:23:17,559 --> 00:23:21,720 my baby? No, mine, mine, I say again. All three 303 00:23:21,799 --> 00:23:25,880 voices were raised at one and the same time, each striving to outbid the 304 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,720 others. Oh, Pip, we'll have to divide you, Yes, Snip, 305 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,799 you wentto two no, into three parts with the scissors. How will 306 00:23:32,839 --> 00:23:36,880 you like that, Pip? Apparently, Pip looked with no favor on this 307 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:41,640 just division of him into three several parts, For suddenly, and without warning, 308 00:23:41,039 --> 00:23:45,680 he lifted up his voice in an anguish and prolonged wail. He's scared 309 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:51,720 to death, exclaimed Judith, hugging Pip in his entirety, jealously to her 310 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:56,400 breast. It's more likely that he's hungry, said the more experienced Mamsie. 311 00:23:56,039 --> 00:24:00,799 Have we any milk, dear, she asked vellin only what we got for 312 00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:04,400 our breakfast. Mamsie, bring that, then we surely can go without our 313 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,519 breakfast on a Christmas morning, that a little hungry child may be fed. 314 00:24:10,839 --> 00:24:14,680 She took the baby and sat down with him in her arms, hardly daring 315 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,480 to think of the grave uncertainties to which she had just committed herself. She 316 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,400 only knew that one of those swift and searching tests that reached to the very 317 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,599 root and groundwork of character had come to her, and she had met it 318 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,920 in the only way she could. It was as though she had been obliged 319 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:36,319 to step off on to a frail raft, and without owe or any means 320 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:41,160 of determining her course, trust herself to the open sea, and for the 321 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,359 moment she was uplifted above fear, even the fear of the uncertainties of the 322 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:51,039 future touching herself and her helpless family, which had been for weeks gnawing at 323 00:24:51,039 --> 00:24:56,279 her heart, That too, had somehow, for the moment, vanished a 324 00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:00,160 lightness of spirit. It might be from the very desperation of her case had 325 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:07,079 taken free and full possession of her. Pip had been very hungry. At 326 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,839 each spoonful of sustenance offered, he stretched his mouth widely in the manner of 327 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:17,200 a young fledgling impatient for a worm, till at length a gasping hiccough proclaimed 328 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,720 him full to the point of spilling over. Then, leaving Pip to the 329 00:25:21,759 --> 00:25:26,000 girl's care and bearing a candle, Mamsie went upstairs to bring from the lavendered 330 00:25:26,039 --> 00:25:30,759 hiding place in an upper chamber the cherished things which had clothed her own baby 331 00:25:30,839 --> 00:25:36,640 daughters and that were now to become the possession of the waif so strangely drifted 332 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:41,279 into her care. Only once did Mamsie falter in her task, and that 333 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:47,160 was when, with full arms, she began to descend the stairway on another 334 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:51,039 Christmas Eve, just twenty two years ago. That very night, and at 335 00:25:51,079 --> 00:25:55,640 the self same hour, she was placing a white slippered foot on this same 336 00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:00,559 old stairway, a broad and beautiful thing of grace, its slender carved hand 337 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:06,240 rail, rich with the mellow tones of age, rounding out into the full 338 00:26:06,279 --> 00:26:11,240 and gracious curve of the final downward step. It had been fitly called the 339 00:26:11,279 --> 00:26:17,160 stairway to happiness because of so many brides, two generations of them before Mamsie's 340 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:22,799 time, having come down its shining length on this night of all nights, 341 00:26:22,319 --> 00:26:26,720 memories crowded thick and fast upon her, and for a moment it seemed as 342 00:26:26,759 --> 00:26:30,960 though she would sink upon the steps. Then it came to her that this 343 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,400 was, not, after all, the way by which any had crossed the 344 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:41,680 mystic borderline into life's happiness. This stairway, shining and beautiful though it was, 345 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:47,279 was but the outward and visible symbol of the real stairway by which she, 346 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,079 following after those long vanished brides, and young Wyndham Wait who had become 347 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:57,240 her husband on that long ago night, had passed over into happiness. That 348 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:04,279 stairway, the reels stairway they had together builded for themselves. Its base lay 349 00:27:04,319 --> 00:27:10,960 deep in self surrender, in kindly thought, in tender deed, each for 350 00:27:11,039 --> 00:27:14,559 the other, and for so much of the wide world as lay within their 351 00:27:14,599 --> 00:27:19,279 reach. Why all the span of her husband's short professional life had been one 352 00:27:19,319 --> 00:27:25,480 continuous mission of mercy. His very death from yellow fever, caught while going 353 00:27:25,519 --> 00:27:30,799 freely about among its suffering victims an act of devotion. No, no, 354 00:27:30,799 --> 00:27:36,559 no, this was not that over which they had entered into happiness. That 355 00:27:37,279 --> 00:27:42,440 the real stairway was a thing of the spirit, mystic, imperishable, as 356 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:48,799 are the things that belonged to God. The baby had scarcely been put into 357 00:27:48,799 --> 00:27:52,519 its white slip of a night gown when in walked Doctor Gliddon, having come 358 00:27:52,559 --> 00:27:56,519 in person, as had been his habit through all the happy, changeful years, 359 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:02,200 to bring the season's greetings. It was a pretty sight to see the 360 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:07,799 girls instantly cluster about the benign figure of this most revered of friends, one 361 00:28:07,839 --> 00:28:11,119 taking his cane, another his hat, and still another helping him out of 362 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:15,720 his greatcoat. He listened in silence to the commonplace story of the baby. 363 00:28:17,559 --> 00:28:22,680 Such things were of daily occurrence. Babies were everywhere thrust upon the cold mercies 364 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,400 of the world with as little care for what might befall them. Perhaps it 365 00:28:26,519 --> 00:28:30,319 was the night, perhaps it was the smallness and helplessness of little Pip, 366 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:34,839 but at any rate, something seemed to have filled all their hearts with an 367 00:28:34,839 --> 00:28:41,440 inexplicable and overflowing tenderness. Saying no word, doctor Gliddon took the little one 368 00:28:41,519 --> 00:28:45,799 and placed it on his knee, then very gently he laid his hand upon 369 00:28:45,839 --> 00:28:51,160 its small, downy head. He too, had quite forgotten that this was 370 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:55,640 a foundling. It might have been the Christ himself, for the welcome one 371 00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:00,319 and all had given him. They were still sitting there, a mood and 372 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,920 silent group, when all at once a strange and thunderous knocking began that shook 373 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:10,920 the old house to its oaken beams. Mamsie again took up the lighted candle 374 00:29:11,279 --> 00:29:15,440 and went hurriedly through the wide front hall, out of which the stairway wound. 375 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,759 Mamsie was unacquainted with fear, and yet she acknowledged to herself a sense 376 00:29:19,759 --> 00:29:25,480 of safety in the presence of doctor Gliddon within. Reaching the door, she 377 00:29:25,599 --> 00:29:30,000 flung it widely open. It may have been that the group outside were not 378 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,400 entirely prepared for the appearance of a slender woman with softly shining, unafraid eyes 379 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:40,319 holding a candle aloft as she peered into the night. At any rate, 380 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:45,960 there was a something hostile, a something suggestive of a challenge, a threat, 381 00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:48,519 even in the voice demanding to know if a certain Missus Waite lived in 382 00:29:48,559 --> 00:29:53,039 that house. I am missus Waite. There was not a tremor in Mamsie's 383 00:29:53,119 --> 00:29:59,039 voice, Will you walk in, gentlemen, One lone man, and not 384 00:29:59,079 --> 00:30:03,440 the one who had spoken, stepped swiftly forward into the solitary ray of light 385 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,599 made by the candle's wind blown flame beyond him. Mamsie could not at the 386 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:15,160 moment see the darkness, however, seemed palpitant with other living, breathing persons, 387 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,559 how many she could not sense. One sidelong glance was sufficient to assure 388 00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:25,119 her that the man closely following her was young. There was about him a 389 00:30:25,119 --> 00:30:29,440 certain disorder of appearance, as though he might have jumped into his clothes days 390 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,240 ago and then forgotten ever to take them off. There was a strained look 391 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,880 in his eyes, a haggardness in his face that, taken in connection with 392 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,680 the tell tale splotches of mud on his furred overcoat, told of fast and 393 00:30:42,759 --> 00:30:48,279 furious riding, very possibly in a forward leaning posture, as though he would 394 00:30:48,319 --> 00:30:53,079 outride the wind itself. It would have been a curiously interesting thing to know 395 00:30:53,359 --> 00:30:59,000 just which of the many conflicting emotions surging through the man's soul was, at 396 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,240 the moment uppermost. When Mamsie's light touch on the door knob disclosed. The 397 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,960 picture within it was a very simple picture, just a benign and beautiful old 398 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:14,119 man sitting holding a sleeping child in his arms, three young girls hovering over 399 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:18,799 both. A hoarse and scarcely articulate sound that seemed to have the name of 400 00:31:18,839 --> 00:31:23,480 God in it escaped the man's lips. In two swift strides, he had 401 00:31:23,519 --> 00:31:29,079 crossed the room and himself stood over the whole group. The little Chap's all 402 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:33,039 right, eh, he spoke, breathlessly and with a swift, sliding inflection. 403 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,400 His voice shook, and his face had in it the paleness of death. 404 00:31:38,119 --> 00:31:41,599 Do you say he's all right, ma'am? At the first sound of 405 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,079 his voice, all three of the girls sprang up and ranged themselves in front 406 00:31:45,079 --> 00:31:49,079 of the baby, shutting him clear away from the sight of this brusque interloper, 407 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,920 whoever he might be. If you have come after our baby, cried 408 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,880 Judith vehemently, you may as well go away. We found him first, 409 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,359 and we mean to keep him. To keep him, they all three exclaimed 410 00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:07,079 simultaneously for a very own hush, and Mamsie put out her hand for silence. 411 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:12,519 No one heeded her. He's ours chanted the girls together again. They 412 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,119 formed a half circle, their short skirts stretched out as a screen hostility in 413 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,680 the eyes of them all. Pip is ours, and we mean to have 414 00:32:19,759 --> 00:32:23,680 him christened tomorrow, because he's a Christmas baby, christened. The ghost of 415 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:30,079 a smile for just a bare second wavered on the stranger's lips. Christened Pip. 416 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,319 Why know, that's what we are going to call him, just among 417 00:32:32,359 --> 00:32:38,359 ourselves. His real name will be will be, well, something quite different, 418 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,759 is it? Is it of any interest to you, sir, what 419 00:32:42,799 --> 00:32:45,720 we name our baby now that we've adopted him? Well, yes, a 420 00:32:45,759 --> 00:32:52,079 little again, that suspicion of a smile just touched the man's lips. Are 421 00:32:52,079 --> 00:32:55,880 you? Are you from the Foundlings Home? Sorry, but I can't claim 422 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:02,000 the honor. Are you any any relation of Pips? Only his father, 423 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,119 that's all. And then a thing happened that only a skilled physician could fully 424 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:13,720 have understood. The stranger with a backward fling of his head, burst suddenly 425 00:33:13,759 --> 00:33:19,039 and crazily into laughter. It was little wonder that they all stared at him. 426 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,960 The revelation and the man's behavior were alike astounding. Judith was the first 427 00:33:24,039 --> 00:33:29,799 to recover speech. Well, she said, witheringly, it doesn't seem to 428 00:33:29,839 --> 00:33:31,880 me that anybody who would leave a dear little baby like this out in the 429 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:37,079 cold and wet, to starve and die deserves to be a father. By 430 00:33:37,119 --> 00:33:40,240 way of answer, the stranger suddenly and almost roughly, thrust her aside. 431 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:45,559 Thrust them all aside. Stooping, He lifted the sleeping baby and strained it 432 00:33:45,599 --> 00:33:50,920 to his heart. And as he stood holding it so they saw that his 433 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:55,519 eyes were wet. The baby stirred and uttered a faint cry. Gently, 434 00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,119 the father laid it back in Doctor Gliddon's arms. I'll have to ask you 435 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,720 to keep him a little longer, he said, and this time his voice 436 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,320 sounded controlled. There's further business to do to night. Some telegraphing too, 437 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:13,440 that I can entrust to no one but myself. You won't mind, madam, 438 00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:16,800 He turned towards missus Waite, who had scarcely yet recovered presence of mind. 439 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,800 You won't mind if I throw a guard about your house? Will you? 440 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,639 I know if you think it at all necessary? Sir? But would 441 00:34:24,639 --> 00:34:29,280 it not be a hard hearted person who would harm a little child? There 442 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,320 are such in the world, he made quick answer. Only four nights ago 443 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:37,119 this boy was taken from his crib stolen away. Oh my god, I 444 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:43,840 expected. Mamsie's low cry interrupted him. Has he a mother? If she 445 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,960 hasn't drowned herself in her tears? Oh, then, sir, don't stop 446 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,159 here a minute. Throw twenty guards if you wish about my house. Only 447 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:54,199 do not keep her in suspense a moment longer. Tell her, Oh, 448 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:58,320 tell her for me that not a hair of his head has been harmed. 449 00:34:59,079 --> 00:35:02,480 Stooping, she gathered the sleeping baby to her tender breast, and as she 450 00:35:02,639 --> 00:35:06,960 rose to face the father, her own eyes were as full of tears as 451 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,480 his had been. Doctor Gliddon rose at once. I will go with you, 452 00:35:10,679 --> 00:35:15,880 he said, with grave courtesy. You may require a friend's aid, 453 00:35:15,039 --> 00:35:21,400 and together they passed out into the night. Soon, the storm, which 454 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,639 had been all day gathering, broke with sullen fury. The wind increased in 455 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:31,239 violence, and the long withheld rain poured in a succession of slanting sheets broadside 456 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:37,960 of the old house, stoutly resisting its beating pressure. The stars faintly showing 457 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,880 in the uncertain earlier evening, had all been blotted out of the sky, 458 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:46,320 and except for the recurrent flashes of lightning in the riven sky, the outside 459 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:52,199 world seemed but a mass of trembling blackness, filled with a multiplied roar, 460 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:58,039 as of something alive and moving from far up the valley. The girls huddled 461 00:35:58,039 --> 00:36:01,599 on the floor drew closer about their holding the sleeping baby on her lap. 462 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:07,920 They were quite alone, as all new, But there were strange noises breaking 463 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,480 every now and then in the dim and silent chambers of the upper regions of 464 00:36:10,519 --> 00:36:15,440 the house, as though the dead and vanished life up there were awaking and 465 00:36:15,599 --> 00:36:22,800 endeavoring to join in the universal tumult hemmed in surrounded all but engulfed. It 466 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:29,360 seemed to Mamsie's aroused consciousness that the rise of another hostile wave would surely sweep 467 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,960 her and all belonging to her as driftwood. Before it, she knew not 468 00:36:34,119 --> 00:36:39,760 where of them all. Little Pip alone was undisturbed. In the safe shelter 469 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:45,199 of Mamsie's encircling arms. He slept peacefully on his breath, now and again, 470 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,960 coming in little swift catches, his warm mouth touched at times by a 471 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:54,199 fleeting smile, as though he had found a sweet security in the port of 472 00:36:54,320 --> 00:37:00,400 dreams. A paleness came into Mamsie's cheek and a tremulousness to her lips. 473 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:07,440 The storm all at once had taken on terrifying significance. In its all encompassing 474 00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:12,719 might, It was like unto that which was ruthlessly sweeping down upon her. 475 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,239 At last, doubt and despair had pounced upon her. She was afraid, 476 00:37:19,559 --> 00:37:22,679 with an inward, anguished cry for help. When no help was at hand, 477 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:28,400 she struggled to her feet, the baby still in her arms. Oh 478 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,840 don't leave us, Mamsie wailed, the girls together laying restraining hands upon her. 479 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,119 Just a moment, DearS, I I think I hear some one at 480 00:37:37,119 --> 00:37:40,679 the back trying to find the way in. And we must not turn any 481 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:46,960 shelterless away on a night like this. Thrusting Pip into Judith's embrace, she 482 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:52,880 slipped away from their hold. It was only old Rastus who had made his 483 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:55,000 way through the night and the storm to see if all was right with his 484 00:37:55,039 --> 00:38:00,039 beloved family. There was something warm and comforting in the old man's presence. 485 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:07,920 His father had served Mamsie's grandfather in his faithfulness and devotion to her and hers. 486 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:13,840 Rastus represented the stability that had seemed to characterize the old order. She 487 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,679 saw that he was drenched from head to foot, the water streaming from the 488 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:22,119 ragged cap. In his trembling old hand, and in her sudden solicitude for 489 00:38:22,199 --> 00:38:27,320 his comfort, she almost forgot the storm. Rastus must have dry things to 490 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,760 put on, and she went to fetch them. But he was strangely oblivious 491 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:35,360 to his own condition. He didn't seem to be aware that his garments were 492 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:40,920 soaked through. Something of infinitely more importance lay heavily upon his mind. What 493 00:38:42,079 --> 00:38:44,719 you all goin to have? The old dinner to mora? He said, 494 00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:49,320 in a troubled voice. I don't know, said Mamsie, simply with a 495 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,000 sudden swift recollection of a multitude fed once upon a barley loaf and a few 496 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:58,559 small fishes. It's mighty curse to ask folks to dinner and not know how 497 00:38:58,559 --> 00:39:00,639 they's to be fed, the old man said, with a shake of his 498 00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:06,679 gray head, expressive of his own deep misgivings. Yes, isn't it. 499 00:39:07,079 --> 00:39:09,679 And she tried to force a smile. But that is what we appear to 500 00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:15,719 have done. Before she had ceased speaking, Doctor Glydden burst in through the 501 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:19,440 front door. He too brought in with him a breath of the storm. 502 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,440 But unlike Rastus. He was dry. Some provident hand had seen to his 503 00:39:23,519 --> 00:39:29,480 protection. A majestic looking old man, he seemed under the soft, revealing 504 00:39:29,559 --> 00:39:34,079 light from the old hall chandelier, which had been set dimly burning, even 505 00:39:34,159 --> 00:39:38,400 taller and broader than before. Missus Waite flew to his side, Sally, 506 00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:43,880 he said, tranquility, before she had time to speak. The gentleman will 507 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,599 be back presently to remain over night, possibly through Christmas, with you, 508 00:39:47,039 --> 00:39:51,960 he and the child. There's been a wash out somewhere up through the mountain 509 00:39:52,039 --> 00:39:54,440 road, and the wires are down. They are relaying the message to the 510 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:59,320 mother by courier, and say they will get it through before morning, so 511 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,239 that her anxie piety will shortly be allayed. If you would like to have 512 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:06,760 me, Sallie, I also will remain with you over night. I see 513 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,320 Rastus out there. Have him light up the Christmas fires, Sallie, as 514 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:13,440 he used in the old days. Tell him to pile on the wood, 515 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:17,239 that there may be a cheerful glow everywhere upstairs and down. This is such 516 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:22,119 a beautiful old house, Sallie, so mellowed by time, so redolent of 517 00:40:22,159 --> 00:40:27,760 memories, fine and sweet. The old man's gaze wandered about a moment, 518 00:40:28,199 --> 00:40:32,000 then fastened down the stairway, the beautiful, soaring stairway, disappearing in the 519 00:40:32,039 --> 00:40:37,920 obscurity of the shadows above, much as human life vanishes at last in the 520 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:45,280 mysteries of the infinite. And yet he continued, slowly and meditatively. You 521 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:50,079 could not have kept the old place six months longer, I know, she 522 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,760 said, with quivering lips, and in so low a whisper that he did 523 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:59,079 not hear it, although he somehow sensed the meaning of it, and knowing 524 00:40:59,119 --> 00:41:02,760 all that you could yet take a little child in, I couldn't turn one 525 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:07,239 away. No, turning folks away from your door is a thing you have 526 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:13,519 never yet learned. He placed his hands, in fatherly affection on the shoulders 527 00:41:13,519 --> 00:41:16,280 of the woman he had held as a child upon his knee. If you 528 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:20,880 had, things might have turned out to be vastly different, both for you 529 00:41:21,039 --> 00:41:24,239 and for the child. It would have died, perished in the storm, 530 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:29,119 and there would have been an unassuageable grief in a very grand home to night. 531 00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:32,880 You did not know that you were saving the life of what is perhaps 532 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:37,519 the richest baby in all the land. You did not know that impossible, 533 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:43,679 cried Mamsie. You are dreaming, dreaming, am i? The old man 534 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:49,039 laughed softly as he thrust something shining and leathery into her hand. And is 535 00:41:49,079 --> 00:41:52,599 that a dream too? Within it is the price a gang of beasts, 536 00:41:52,679 --> 00:41:55,599 hunted to their lair, thought to place on a baby's little life. And 537 00:41:55,679 --> 00:42:00,599 since they failed to secure it, it falls to you. There is enough 538 00:42:00,639 --> 00:42:06,559 in there to save your home, to secure your future. Two Why why, 539 00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:13,039 Sally, what are you crying for? And of the Stairway to Happiness. 540 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:15,599 The Story of a Christmas Eve by Dellah Dimit