Speaker 1: Missus Olcott called her boys and bade them go to
Speaker 1: the pine woods and get the finest, handsomest young hemlock
Speaker 1: tree that they could find. Get one that is straight
Speaker 1: and tall, with well bowed branches on it, and put
Speaker 1: it where you can draw it under the wood shed.
Speaker 1: After dark, she added, the boys went to Pine Hill
Speaker 1: and there they picked out the finest young tree on
Speaker 1: all the hill and said we'll take this one. So
Speaker 1: with their hatchets they hewed it down and brought it
Speaker 1: safely home. The next night, when all was dark, and
Speaker 1: when Roger was quietly sleeping in the adjoining room, they
Speaker 1: dragged the tree into the kitchen. It was too tall,
Speaker 1: so they took it out again and cut it off
Speaker 1: two or three feet at the base. Then they propped
Speaker 1: it up, and the curtains being down over the windows,
Speaker 1: and blankets being fastened over the curtains to prevent any
Speaker 1: one looking in, and the door being doubly barred to
Speaker 1: prevent any one coming in. They all went to bed
Speaker 1: very early the next morning, while the stars shone on
Speaker 1: the snow covered hills, the same stars that shone sixteen
Speaker 1: hundred years before on the hills where Christ was born
Speaker 1: In Bethlehem, the little purit and mother in New England
Speaker 1: arose very softly. She went out and lit the kitchen
Speaker 1: fire anew from the ash covered embers. She fastened upon
Speaker 1: the twigs of the tree the gifts she had brought
Speaker 1: in Boston for her boys and girl. Then she took
Speaker 1: as many as twenty pieces of candle and fixed them
Speaker 1: upon the branches. After that, she softly called Rupert, Robert
Speaker 1: and Lucie and told them to get up and come
Speaker 1: into the kitchen. Hurrying back, she began with a bit
Speaker 1: of burning stick to light the candles. Just as the
Speaker 1: last one was set aflame in trooped the three children.
Speaker 1: Before they had time to say a word, they were
Speaker 1: silenced by their mother's warning. I wished to fetch Roger
Speaker 1: in and wake him up before it, she said, keep
Speaker 1: still till I come back. The little lad, fast asleep,
Speaker 1: was lifted in a blanket and gently carried by his
Speaker 1: mother into the beautiful presence. See Roger, my boy, see,
Speaker 1: she said, arousing him. It is Christmas morning. Now. In
Speaker 1: England they only have Christmas boughs, but here in New
Speaker 1: England we have a whole Christmas tree. Oh mother, he cried, Oh, Lucy,
Speaker 1: is it really really true? And no dream at all? Yes,
Speaker 1: I see, I see, oh mother, it is so beautiful,
Speaker 1: for all the trees on all the hills lighted up
Speaker 1: that way when Christ was born. And mother, he added,
Speaker 1: clapping his little hands with joy at the thought. Why, yes,
Speaker 1: the stars did sing when Christ was born. They must
Speaker 1: be glad then, and keep Christmas too in heaven. I
Speaker 1: know they must. And there will be good times there, Yes,
Speaker 1: said his mother, there will be good times there. Roger
Speaker 1: then said the boy, I shall aren't mind going now,
Speaker 1: I've seen the Christmas boar? Ay? What is that? Mother?
Speaker 1: What was it that they heard? That little Olcott home
Speaker 1: had never before seemed to tremble? So there were taps
Speaker 1: at the window, there were knocks at the door, and
Speaker 1: it was as yet scarcely the break of day. There
Speaker 1: were voices also shouting something to somebody. Shall I put
Speaker 1: out the candles? Mother, whispered Robin. What will they do
Speaker 1: for us for having the tree? I wish we hadn't
Speaker 1: had it, regretted Rupert, while Lucy clung to her mother's
Speaker 1: gown and shrieked with all her strength. It's Indians, pale
Speaker 1: and white and still ready to meet her fate stood
Speaker 1: Missus Orcott, until out of the knocking, at the tapping
Speaker 1: at the door, her heart caught a sound. It was
Speaker 1: a voice calling, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. Unbar the door. She
Speaker 1: cried back to her boy's at your father calling. Down
Speaker 1: came the blankets, Up went the curtain, and through the
Speaker 1: door in in walk Captain Olcott, surrounded by every man
Speaker 1: and woman in Plymouth, who had heard at the break
Speaker 1: of day the glorious news that the expected ship had
Speaker 1: arrived at Boston, and with it the long lost Captain Olcott.
Speaker 1: For an instant nothing was thought of except the joyous
Speaker 1: welcoming of the Captain in his new home. What's this?
Speaker 1: What is it? What does it mean? Was asked again
Speaker 1: and again when the first excitement was passed. As the
Speaker 1: tall young pines through aloft, its candles ablaze, its gifts
Speaker 1: still hanging. It's a welcome home to father, said Lucy,
Speaker 1: her only thought being to screen her mother. No child,
Speaker 1: no sterney spirt, missus Elcott, tell the truth. It's a
Speaker 1: Christmas tree, faltered poor Lucie. One and another and another.
Speaker 1: Pilgrims and Puritans all drew near, with faces stern and forbidding,
Speaker 1: and gazed and gazed, until one, and another and yet
Speaker 1: another softened slowly into a smile as Little Roger's piping
Speaker 1: voice sung out, she made it for me, mother did.
Speaker 1: But you may have it now, and all the pretty
Speaker 1: things that are on it, too, because you've brought my
Speaker 1: father back again, if mother will let you, he added,
Speaker 1: neither pilgrim or Puritan found at the gift. One man,
Speaker 1: the sternest there, broke off a little twig and said,
Speaker 1: I'll take it for the sake of the good old
Speaker 1: times at home. End of story.