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Speaker 1: Christmas waits in Boston. When my friends of the Boston

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Daily Advertiser asked me last year to contribute to their

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Christmas number, I was very glad to recall this scrap

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of mister Ingham's memoirs, for in most modern Christmas stories

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I have observed that the rich wake up of a

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sudden to befriend the poor, and that the moral is

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educed from such compassion. The incidents in this story show

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what all life shows, that the poor befriend the rich

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as truly as the rich befriend the poor, that in

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the Christian life each needs all. I have been asked

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a dozen times how far this story is true. Of course,

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no such series of incidents has ever taken place in

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this order in four or five hours. But there is

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nothing told here which has not parallels perfectly fair in

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my experience, or in that of any working minister. I

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always give myself a Christmas present, and on this particular

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year the present was a Carol party, which is about

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as good fun all things consenting kindly as a man

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can have. Many things must consent. It will appear. First

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of all, there must be good sleighing, and second a

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fine night for Christmas eve ours are not the carolings

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of your poor shivering little east Angles or South Mercians,

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where they have to plod round a foot in countries

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which do not know what a sleigh ride is. I

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had asked Harry to have sixteen of the best voices

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in the chapel school to be trained to five or

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six good carols, without knowing why. We did not care

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to disappoint them. If a February thaw setting in on

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the twenty fifth of December should break up the spree

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before it began, then I had told Howland that he

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must reserve for me a span of good horses and

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a sleigh that I could pack sixteen small children into,

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tight stowed. Howland is always good about such things. He

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knew what the sleigh was for, having done the same

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in other years, and made the span four horses of

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his own accord, because the children would like it better

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and it would be no difference to him. Sunday night,

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as the weather nymphs ordered, the wind hauled round to

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the northwest and everything froze hard. Monday night things moderated

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and the snow began to fall steadily, so steadily, and

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so Tuesday night, the Metropolitan people gave up their unequal contest,

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all good men and angels rejoicing at their discomfiture, and

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only a few of the people in the very lowest

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bulgey being ill natured enough to grieve. And thus it

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was that by Thursday evening was one hard compact roadway

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from Copse Hill to the bone Burner's Gehenna, fit for

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good men and angels to ride over, without jar, without noise,

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and without fatigue to horse or man. So it was

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that when I came down with Lycidas to the chapel

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at seven o'clock, I found Harry had gathered there his

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eight pretty girls and his eight jolly boys, and had

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them practicing for the last time Carol, Carol, Christians, Carol

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joyfully Carol for the coming of Christ's Nativity. I think

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the children had got an inkling of what was coming,

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or perhaps Harry had hinted it to their mother's. Certainly

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they were warmly dressed, and when fifteen minutes afterwards Howland

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came round with the sleigh, he had put in as

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many rugs and bear skins as if he thought the

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children were to be taken newborn from their respective cradles.

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Great was the rejoicing as the bells of the horses

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rang beneath the chapel windows, and Harry did not get

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his last de capo for his last carol. Not much matter, indeed,

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for they were perfect enough in it. Before midnight, Yissidas

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and I tumbled in on the back seat, each with

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a child in his lap to keep us warm. I

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flanked by Sam Perry, and he by John Rich, both

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of the mercurial age and therefore good to do errands.

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Harry was in front somewhere flanked in likewise, and the

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other children lay miscellaneously in between, like sardines when you

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have first opened the box. I had invited Lycidas, because

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besides being my best friend, he is the best fellow

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in the world, and so deserves the best Christmas Eve

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can give him. Under the full moon, on the still

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white snow, with sixteen children at the happiest and with

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the blessed memories of the best the world has ever had.

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There can be nothing better than two or three such hours.

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First driver out on Commonwealth Avenue, that will tone down

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the horses. Stop on the left after you've passed Fairfield Street.

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So we dashed up to the front of Halliburton's palace,

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where he was keeping his first crist Mistide, and the children,

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whom Harry had hushed down for a square or two,

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broke forth with good, full voice under his strong lead

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in Shepherd of Tender Sheep, singing with all that unconscious

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pathos with which children do sing, and starting the tears

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in your eyes in the midst of your gladness. The

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instant the horse's bells stopped, their voices began. In an

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instant more we saw Haliburton and Anna run to the

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window and pull up the shades, and in a minute

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more faces at all the windows. And so the children

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sung through Clement's old hymn. Little did Clement think of

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bells and snow as he taught it in his Sunday

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school there in Alexandria. But perhaps to day, as they

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pin up the laurels and the palm in the chapel

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at Alexandria, they are humming the words, not thinking of

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Clement more than he thought of us. As the children

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closed with swell the true diumphant song to Christ, our King,

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Haliburton came running out and begged me to bring them in,

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But I told him no. As soon as I could

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hush their shouts of Merry Christmas, that we had a

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long journey before us, and we must not alight by

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the way. And the children broke out with hail to

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the night, hail to the day, rather a favorite, quicker

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and more to the childish taste perhaps than the other.

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And with another Merry Christmas, we were off again, off

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the length of Commonwealth Avenue to where it crosses the

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Brookline branch of the Mill Dam, dashing along with the

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gayest of the sleighing parties. As we came back into

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town up Chestnut Street, through Louisbourg Square, ran the sleigh

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into a bank on the slope of Pinckney Street in

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front of Walter's house, and before they suspected there was

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any one had come, the children were singing Carol, Carol Christians,

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Carol joyful Ye, kisses flung from the window, kisses flung

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back from the street, Merry Christmas again with a good will.

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And then one of the girls began.

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Speaker 2: When Anna took the baaby and pressed his lips to hers,

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and all of them fell in so cheerily.

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Speaker 1: Oh dear me, it is a scrap of old from

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the Syrian If they did but know it, and when

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after this Harry would fain have driven on, because two

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carols at one house was the rule. How the little

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witches begged that they might sing just one more song there,

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because Missus Alexander had been so kind to them when

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she showed them about the German stitches. And then up

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the hill and over to the north end, and as

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far as we could get the horses up into moon Court,

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that they might sing to the Italian image Man who

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gave Lucy the boy and dog and plaster when she

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was sick in the spring. For the children had you

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know the choice of where they would go, and they

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selected their best friend friends, and will be more apt

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to remember the Italian image Man than Chrysostom himself, though

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Chrisostom should have made a few remarks to them seventeen

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times in the chapel. Then the Italian image Man heard

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for the first time in his life, now is the

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time of Christmas come and Jesus in his babes abiding.

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And then we came up Hanover Street and stopped under

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mister Jerry's chapel where they were dressing the walls with

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their evergreens, and gave them hail to the night. Hail

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to the day, and so down State Street, and stopped

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at the Advertiser office, because when the boys gave their

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literary entertainment, mister Hale had put in their advertisement for nothing.

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And up in the old attic there the compositors were

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relieved to hear nor war nor battle sound. The waiting

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world was still, so that even the leading editor relaxed

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from his gravity, and the in general man from his

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more serious views. And the Daily the next morning wished

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everybody a merry Christmas with even more unction, and resolved

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that in coming years it would have a supplement large

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enough to contain all the good wishes. So away again

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to the houses of confectioners who had given the children candy,

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to Miss Simmons's house because she had been so good

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to them in school, to the palaces of millionaires who

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had prayed for these children with tears if the children

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only knew it, to Doctor Frothingham's in Summer Street. I

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remember where we stopped, because the Boston Association of Ministers

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met here and out on Dover Street bridge, that the

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poor chair mender might hear our carols sung once more

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before he heard them better sung in another world where

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nothing needs mending.

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Speaker 2: King of Glory, King of peace, hear the song and

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see the star.

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Speaker 1: Welcome be thou. The king was not christ oar save yore,

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and all the others wrung out with order or without order,

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breaking the hush directly as the horse's bells were stilled,

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thrown into the air with all the gladness of childhood, selected,

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sometimes as Harry happened to think best for the hearers,

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but more often as the jubilant and uncontrolled enthusiasm of

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the children bade them break out in the most joyous,

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least studied, and purely lyrical of all. Oh, we went

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to twenty places that night, I suppose we went to

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the grandest places in Boston, and we went to the

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meanest everywhere. They wished us a merry Christmas, and we

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them everywhere. A little crowd gathered round us, And then

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we dashed away far enough to gather quite another crowd,

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and then back, perhaps not sorry to double on our

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steps if need were, and leaving every crowd with the

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happy thought of the star, the main and the child.

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At nine, we brought up at my house d Street,

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three doors from the corner, and the children picked their

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very best for Polly and my six little girls to hear,

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and then for the first time we let them jump

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out and run in. Polly had some hot oysters for them,

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so that the frolic was crowned with a treat. There

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was a Christmas cake cut into sixteen pieces, which they

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took home to dream upon, and then hoods and muffs

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on again. And by ten o'clock or a little after

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we had all the girls and all the little ones

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at their homes. Four of the big boys, our two

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flankers and Harry's right and left hand men, begged that

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they might stay till the last moment they could walk

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back from the stable, and rather walk than not, indeed,

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to which we assented, having gained parental permission. As we

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left younger sisters in their respective homes, Lycidas and I

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both thought, as we went into these modest houses to

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leave the children to say they had been good, and

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to wish a merry Christmas ourselves, to fathers, mothers, and

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to guardian aunts, that the welcome in these homes was

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perhaps the best part of it all. Here was the

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great stout sailor boy, whom we had not seen since

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he came back from sea. He was a mere child

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when he left our school years on years ago for

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the East on board Perry's vessel, and had been round

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the world. Here was brave missus Masury. I had not

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seen her since her mother died. Indeed, mister Ingham, I

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got so used to watching then that I cannot sleep

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well yet a night's I wish you knew some poor

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creature that wanted me to night, if it were only

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in memory of Bethlehem. You take a deal o trouble

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for the children, said Campbell, as he crushed my hand

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in his. But you know they love you, and you

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know I would do as much for you and yours,

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which I knew was true. What can I send to

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your children? Said Dalton, who was finishing sword blades. Ill

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wind was fort sumter, but it blew good to poor Dalton,

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whom it set up in the world with his sword factory.

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Here's an old fashioned tape measure for the girl, and

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a chuffilled wimble for the boy. What there is no boy,

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Let one of the girls have it. Then it will

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count as one more present for her. And so he

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pressed his brown paper parcel into my hand. From every house,

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though it were the humblest a word of love, as

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sweet in truth, as if we could have heard the

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voice of angels singing in the sky. I bade Harry

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good night, took Lycidas to his lodgings, and gave his

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wife my Christmas wishes and good night, and coming down

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to the sleigh again, gave way to the feeling which

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I think you will all understand, that this was not

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the time to stop, but just the time to begin.

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For the streets were stiller now, and the moon brighter

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than ever, if possible, and the blessings of these simple

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people and the grand people, and of the very angels

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in heaven who are not bound to the misery of

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using words when they have anything worth saying. All these

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wishes and blessings were around me, all the purity of

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the still winter night, and I didn't want to lose

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at all by going to bed to sleep. So I

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put the boys all together where they could chatter, and

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took one more brisk turn on the two avenues, and then,

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passing through Charles Street, I believe I was even thinking

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of Cambridge. I noticed the lights in Woodhull's house, and

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seeing that they were up, I thought I would make

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Fanny a midnight call. She came to the door herself.

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I asked if she were waiting up for Santa Claus,

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but saw in a moment that I must not joke

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with her. She said she had hoped I was her husband.

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In a minute. Was one of those contrasts which make

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life life. God puts us into the world that we

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may try them and be tried by them. Poor Fanny's

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mother had been blocked up on the Springfield train as

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she was coming on to Christmas. The old lady had

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been chilled through and was here in bed now with pneumonia.

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Both of Fanny's children had been ailing when she came,

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and this morning the doctor had pronounced it scarlet fever.

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Fanny had not undressed herself since Monday, nor slept, I

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thought in the same time. So while we had been

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singing carols and wishing Merry Christmas, this poor child had

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been waiting and hoping that her husband or Edward, both

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of whom were on the tramp, would find for her

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and bring to her the model nurse, who had not

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yet appeared. But at midnight, this unknown sister had not arrived,

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nor had either of the men returned. When I rang,

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Fanny had hoped I was one of them professional paragons,

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dear reader, are shy of scarlet fever. I told the

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poor child that it was better as it was. I

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wrote along for sam Perry to take to his aunt,

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Missus Masury, in which I simply said, dear Mamma, I

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have found the poor creature who wants you tonight, come

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back in this carriage. I bade him to take a

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hack at Gates, where they were all up waiting for

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the assembly to be done at Papanti's. I sent him

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over to Albany Street, and really, as I sat there

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trying to soothe Fanny, it seemed to me less time

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than it has taken to dictate this little story about

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00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:32,000
her before. Missus Masury rang gently, and I left them,

275
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having made Fanny promise that she would consecrate the day

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which at that moment was born, by trusting God, by

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00:16:39,279 --> 00:16:42,279
going to bed and going to sleep, knowing that her

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00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,120
children were in much better hands than hers. As I

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00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,799
passed out of the hall, the gas light fell on

280
00:16:48,879 --> 00:16:53,759
a print of Correggio's Adoration, where Woodhull had himself written

281
00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:58,879
years before. But apaiat is qui in tenebris at umbra

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00:16:59,039 --> 00:17:03,759
mortis possy de sunt darkness and the shadow of death. Indeed,

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and what light like the light and comfort such a

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woman as my merry Mazurie brings. And so but for

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one of those accidents, as we call them, I should

286
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have dropped the boys at the corner of Dover Street

287
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and gone home with my Christmas lesson. But it happened,

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00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:26,759
as we irreverently say, it happened as we crossed Park Square,

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so called from its being an irregular pentagon of which

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00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,480
one of the sides has been taken away, that I

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00:17:33,559 --> 00:17:37,640
recognized a tall man plodding across the snow, head down,

292
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round shouldered, stooped forward in walking, with his right shoulder

293
00:17:42,079 --> 00:17:45,759
higher than his left. And by these tokens I knew

294
00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:51,000
Tom Corumb, prince among Boston princes, not Thomas Corumb that

295
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,279
built the Foundling Hospital, though he was of Boston too,

296
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,640
but he was longer ago. You must look for him

297
00:17:57,759 --> 00:18:01,960
in Addison's contribution to a Supper to the Spectator, the

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00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,039
old Spectator, I mean, not the Thursday Spectator, which is

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00:18:05,079 --> 00:18:10,119
more recent. Not Thomas Corum, I say, but Tom Corumb,

300
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,400
who would build a hospital tomorrow if you showed him

301
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,200
the need, without waiting to die first, and always helps

302
00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,680
forward as a prince should. Whatever is princely, be it

303
00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:24,039
a statue at home, a school in Richmond, a newspaper

304
00:18:24,079 --> 00:18:28,000
in Florida, a church in Exeter, a steam line to Liverpool,

305
00:18:28,319 --> 00:18:32,000
or a widow who wants a hundred dollars. I wished

306
00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:36,000
him a merry Christmas, and mister Howland, by a fine instinct,

307
00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:40,039
drew up the horses. As I spoke, corumb shook hands,

308
00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:42,759
and as it seldom happens that I have an empty

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00:18:42,839 --> 00:18:45,519
carriage while he is on foot, I asked him if

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I might not see him home. He was glad to

311
00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,039
get in. We wrapped him up with the spoils of

312
00:18:51,079 --> 00:18:54,079
the bear, the fox and the bison, turned the horses

313
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,640
heads again, five hours now since they had started on

314
00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,160
this tangled errand of theirs, and gave him his ride.

315
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,720
I was thinking of you at the moment, said Coorum,

316
00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,759
thinking of old college times, of the mystery of language

317
00:19:08,799 --> 00:19:12,319
as unfolded by the Abbe Faria to Edmund Dantes in

318
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,839
the depths of the Chateau d'If. I was wondering if

319
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,240
you could teach me Japanese. If I asked you to

320
00:19:18,319 --> 00:19:23,279
a Christmas dinner. I laughed, Japan was really a novelty then,

321
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,000
and I asked him since when he had been in

322
00:19:26,039 --> 00:19:30,319
correspondence with that sealed country. It seemed that their house

323
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,920
at Shanghai had just sent across there their agents for

324
00:19:34,079 --> 00:19:37,720
establishing the first house in Edomo in Japan under the

325
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,160
new treaty. Everything looked promising, and the beginnings were made

326
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,279
for the branch which has since become Dot and Trevellion.

327
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,359
There of this he had the first tidings in his letters.

328
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:53,400
By the mail of that afternoon. John Corum, his brother,

329
00:19:53,519 --> 00:19:56,319
had written to him, and had said that he enclosed

330
00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:00,240
for his amusement the Japanese Bill of Particulars as had

331
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,319
been drawn out on which they had founded their orders

332
00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:06,240
for the first assorted cargo ever to be sent from

333
00:20:06,279 --> 00:20:11,480
America to Edomo. Bill of Particulars there was stretching down

334
00:20:11,519 --> 00:20:15,720
the long tissue paper in exquisite cherography, but by some

335
00:20:15,839 --> 00:20:19,480
freak of the total depravity of things, the translated order

336
00:20:19,559 --> 00:20:23,480
for the assorted cargo was not there. John Corum, in

337
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:26,880
his care to fold up the Japanese writing nicely, had

338
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,920
left on his own desk at Shanghai. The more intelligible English,

339
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,440
And so I must wait, said Tom, philosophically, till my

340
00:20:35,519 --> 00:20:39,359
next East India mail for my orders. Certain that seven

341
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:44,079
English houses have had less enthusiastic and philological correspondents than

342
00:20:44,079 --> 00:20:47,680
my brother, I said. I did not see that that

343
00:20:47,759 --> 00:20:50,880
I could not teach him to speak the Taghelian dialects

344
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,240
so well that he could read them with facility before Saturday.

345
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,839
But I could do a good deal better. Did he

346
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,640
remember writing a note to old Jack per for me

347
00:21:00,759 --> 00:21:05,039
five years ago? No, he remembered no such thing. He

348
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,359
knew Jack Perceval, but he never wrote a note to

349
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,920
him in his life. Did he remember giving me fifty

350
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,799
dollars because I had taken a delicate boy whom I

351
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:15,720
was going to send to sea, and I was not

352
00:21:15,839 --> 00:21:19,599
quite satisfied with the government outfit. No, he did not

353
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,319
remember that, which was not strange, for that was a

354
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,480
thing he was doing every day. Well, I don't care

355
00:21:25,519 --> 00:21:28,000
how much you remember. But the boy about whom you

356
00:21:28,079 --> 00:21:31,240
wrote to Jack Percival, for whose mother's ease of mind

357
00:21:31,319 --> 00:21:35,720
you provided that half hundred is back again, strong, straight

358
00:21:35,759 --> 00:21:38,519
and well. And what is more, to the point, he

359
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,480
had the whole charge of Perry's Commissariat on shore at Yokohama.

360
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,799
He was honorably discharged out there. He reads Japanese better

361
00:21:46,799 --> 00:21:49,319
than you read English, and if it will help you

362
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,960
at all, he shall be here at your house at breakfast.

363
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,200
For as I spoke, we stopped at Korum's door. Ingham

364
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,920
said Corum, if you were not a person, I should

365
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:03,279
say you were romance. My child said I. I sometimes

366
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,160
write a parable for the Atlantic, but the words of

367
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,720
my lips are verity. As all those of the Sandemanians

368
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,960
go to bed, do not even dream of the Taglian dialects.

369
00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:17,440
Be sure that the Japanese interpreter will breakfast with you.

370
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,039
And the next time you are in a scrape, send

371
00:22:20,079 --> 00:22:24,079
for the nearest Minister George. Tell your brother Ezra that

372
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,240
mister Corum wishes him to breakfast here tomorrow morning at

373
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eight o'clock. Don't forget the number Pemberton Square. You know, yes, sir,

374
00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:36,839
said George, and Thomas Corum laughed, said Merry Christmas, and

375
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,880
we parted. It was time we were all in bed,

376
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,759
especially these boys. But glad enough, am I as I

377
00:22:44,799 --> 00:22:48,079
write these words, that the meeting of Corum set us back,

378
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:52,240
that dropped stitch in our night's journey. There was one

379
00:22:52,279 --> 00:22:55,799
more delay. We were sweeping by the old State House.

380
00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,160
The boys were singing again, Carol, Carol Christians as we

381
00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,599
dashed along the still streets, when I caught sight of

382
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,319
Adam's Todd, and he recognized me. He had heard us

383
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,000
singing when we were at the Advertiser office. Tod is

384
00:23:11,039 --> 00:23:14,480
an old fellow apprentice of mine, and he is now,

385
00:23:14,759 --> 00:23:19,400
or rather was that night, chief pressman in the Argus office.

386
00:23:19,839 --> 00:23:22,240
I like the Argus people. It was there that I

387
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:26,160
was South American editor, now many years ago, and they

388
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,279
befriend me to this hour. Tod hailed me, and once

389
00:23:30,319 --> 00:23:33,759
more I stopped. What sent you out from your warm

390
00:23:33,839 --> 00:23:39,359
steam boiler? Steam boiler, indeed, said Tod, two rivets loose,

391
00:23:39,839 --> 00:23:44,200
steam room full of steam. Police frightened neighborhood in a row,

392
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,200
and we had to put out the fire. She would

393
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,720
have run a week without hurting a fly, only a

394
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,759
little puff in the streets sometimes. But there we are Ingham.

395
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,640
We shall lose the early mail as it stands, seventy

396
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,000
eight tokens to be worked. Now. They always talked largely

397
00:24:02,039 --> 00:24:04,799
of their addition at the Argus, saw it with many

398
00:24:04,799 --> 00:24:08,799
eyes perhaps, But this time. I am sure Tod spoke true.

399
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,799
I caught his idea at once. In younger and more

400
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,480
muscular times, Tod and I had worked the Adam's press

401
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,480
by that fly wheel for full five minutes at a

402
00:24:19,559 --> 00:24:22,359
time as a test of our strength. And in my

403
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,240
mind's eye I saw that he was printing his paper

404
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,880
at this moment with relays of grinding stevedores. He said

405
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,039
it was so, but think of it to night, said he.

406
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,519
It is Christmas Eve, and not an irishman to be hired,

407
00:24:36,599 --> 00:24:39,559
though one paid him in ingots. Not a man can

408
00:24:39,599 --> 00:24:43,400
stand the grind ten minutes. I knew that very well

409
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,559
from old experience, and I thanked him inwardly for not

410
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:51,759
saying the damnation grind with Mantini. We cannot run the

411
00:24:51,799 --> 00:24:54,319
press half the time, said he. And the men we

412
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,359
have are giving out. Now we shall lose all our

413
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,680
carrier delivery. Tod said, I is this a knight to

414
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,240
be talking of ingots or hiring, or losing or gaining?

415
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,079
When will you learn that love rules the court, the

416
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,839
camp and the argus office. And I wrote, on the

417
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,640
back of a letter to Campbell, come to the Argus

418
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:20,000
Office number two. Dassett's alley with seven men, not afraid

419
00:25:20,039 --> 00:25:23,279
to work. Bade Howland take the boys to Campbell's house,

420
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,599
walked down with Tod to his office, challenged him to

421
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,319
take five minutes at the wheel in memory of old times.

422
00:25:31,319 --> 00:25:34,400
Made the tired relays laugh when they saw us take hold.

423
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,759
And then, when I had cooled off and put on

424
00:25:37,839 --> 00:25:41,519
my card again, met Campbell with his seven sons of Annak,

425
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,119
tumbling down the stairs, wondering what round of mercy the

426
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,799
parson had found for them this time. I started home,

427
00:25:49,079 --> 00:25:52,640
knowing I should now have my argus with my coffee,

428
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,880
and so I walked home better so perhaps, after all,

429
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,839
than in the lively sleigh with the tinkling bells. It

430
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,440
was a calm and silent night. Seven hundred years and

431
00:26:04,559 --> 00:26:08,440
fifty three had Rome been growing up to might, and

432
00:26:08,599 --> 00:26:12,759
now was queen of land and sea. No sound was

433
00:26:12,839 --> 00:26:19,359
heard of clashing wars, Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain. Apollo, Pallace,

434
00:26:19,559 --> 00:26:24,079
Jove and Mars held undisturbed their ancient reign in the

435
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:30,160
solemn midnight centuries ago. What an eternity it seemed, since

436
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:37,119
I started with those children singing carols Bethlehem, Nazareth, calvary Rome.

437
00:26:37,799 --> 00:26:45,640
Roman senators Tiberius, Paul, Nero, Clement, Ephraim Ambrose, and all

438
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,599
the singers Vincent de Paul, and all the loving wonder

439
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:55,039
workers Milton and Herbert, and all the carol writers Luther

440
00:26:55,319 --> 00:26:58,839
and Knox, and all the prophets. What a world of

441
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,519
people had been keeping Christmas with Sam Perry and Lycidas

442
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:07,319
and Harry and me. And here were Yokohama and the Japanese,

443
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,160
the Daily Argus and its ten million tokens and their readers.

444
00:27:11,799 --> 00:27:15,720
Poor Fanny Woodhull and her sick mother there keeping Christmas too,

445
00:27:16,559 --> 00:27:19,440
for a finite world. These are a good many weights

446
00:27:19,519 --> 00:27:22,359
to be singing in one poor fellow's ears on one

447
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:27,279
Christmas tide. Twas in the calm and silent night, the

448
00:27:27,319 --> 00:27:32,480
Senator of haughty Rome, impatient urged his chariot's flight from

449
00:27:32,559 --> 00:27:38,640
lordly revel, roiling home, triumphal arches, gleaming, swell his breast

450
00:27:38,799 --> 00:27:43,279
with thoughts of boundless sway. What wrecked the Roman? What

451
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,960
befell a paltry province far away in the solemn midnight

452
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:54,680
centuries ago? Within that province, far away went plodding home

453
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,519
a weary bore, a streak of light before him lay

454
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,000
fallen through a half shut stable door. Across his path.

455
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,480
He passed for naught, told him what was going on within?

456
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,599
How keen the stars? His only thought the air? How

457
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:18,119
calm and cold and thin in the solemn midnight centuries ago?

458
00:28:20,039 --> 00:28:23,519
Streak of light? Is there a light in Lycidiss's room?

459
00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:29,240
They not in bed? That is making a night of it. Well,

460
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,640
there are few hours of the day or night when

461
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,519
I have not been in Lycidiss's room. So I let

462
00:28:34,559 --> 00:28:37,559
myself in by the night key he gave me, ran

463
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,799
up the stairs. It is a horrid seven story first

464
00:28:40,839 --> 00:28:44,359
class lodging house. For my part, I had as leef

465
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,000
live in a steeple two flights. I ran up two

466
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,839
steps at a time. I was younger then than I

467
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,640
am now, pushed open the door, which was ajar, and

468
00:28:54,799 --> 00:28:57,960
saw such a scene of confusion as I never saw

469
00:28:58,039 --> 00:29:02,480
in Mary's over nice parlor before, or queer. I remember.

470
00:29:02,519 --> 00:29:04,519
The first thing that I saw was wrong was a

471
00:29:04,559 --> 00:29:07,880
great ball of white German worsted on the floor. Her

472
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:12,359
basket was upset. A great Christmas tree lay across the rug,

473
00:29:12,839 --> 00:29:16,559
quite too high for the room. A large, sharp pointed

474
00:29:16,599 --> 00:29:19,759
Spanish clasp knife was by it, with which they had

475
00:29:19,799 --> 00:29:23,599
been lopping it. There were two immense baskets of white

476
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:28,119
papered presents, both upset. But what frightened me most was

477
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:33,319
the center table, three or four handkerchiefs on it, towels, napkins,

478
00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:37,279
I know not what, all brown and red and almost

479
00:29:37,319 --> 00:29:42,920
black with blood. I turned heartsick to look into the bedroom,

480
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,920
and I really had a sense of relief when I

481
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,319
saw somebody bad enough. It was, however, Lycidys, but just

482
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,839
now so strong and well, lay pale and exhausted on

483
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,640
the bloody bed, with the clothing removed from his right

484
00:29:56,759 --> 00:30:00,319
leg and thigh, while over him bent Merry and more Morton.

485
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:05,240
I learned afterwards that poor Lycidas, while trimming the Christmas

486
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:09,039
tree and talking merrily with Mary and Morton, who by

487
00:30:09,039 --> 00:30:11,680
good luck had brought round his presence late and was

488
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,200
staying to tie on glass balls and apples, had given

489
00:30:15,279 --> 00:30:18,039
himself a deep and dangerous wound with the point of

490
00:30:18,079 --> 00:30:21,119
the unlucky knife, and had lost a great deal of

491
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,839
blood before the hemorrhage could be controlled. Just before I

492
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,319
had entered the stick tourniquet which Morton had improvised had

493
00:30:29,319 --> 00:30:32,920
slipped in poor Mary's unpracticed hand at the moment he

494
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,119
was about to secure the bleeding artery, and the blood

495
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,720
followed in such a gush as compelled him to give

496
00:30:38,759 --> 00:30:42,279
his whole attention to stopping its flow. He only knew

497
00:30:42,279 --> 00:30:45,960
my entrance by the ah mister Ingham, of the frightened

498
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,039
Irish girl, who stood uselessly by the head of the bed.

499
00:30:50,119 --> 00:30:53,400
Oh Fred said Morton, without looking up. I'm glad you're here,

500
00:30:54,319 --> 00:30:57,240
and what can I do for you? Some whisky? First

501
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,599
of all, there are two bottles, said men who was

502
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,519
holding the candle in the cupboard behind the dressing glass.

503
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,759
I took Bridget with me, struck a light in the

504
00:31:06,839 --> 00:31:10,359
dressing room. How she blundered about the match and found

505
00:31:10,359 --> 00:31:14,640
the cupboard door locked, the key doubtless in Mary's pocket,

506
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,839
probably in the pocket of another dress I did not ask,

507
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,519
took my own bunch, willed tremendously that my account book

508
00:31:22,599 --> 00:31:26,359
drawer key should govern this lock, and it did. If

509
00:31:26,359 --> 00:31:28,119
it had not, I should have put my fist through

510
00:31:28,119 --> 00:31:33,920
the panels. Bottle of bed bug poison, bottle marked bay rum,

511
00:31:34,519 --> 00:31:38,279
another bottle with no mark. Two bottles of Saratoga water,

512
00:31:39,359 --> 00:31:42,319
set them all on the floor. Bridget a tall bottle

513
00:31:42,319 --> 00:31:46,559
of cologne, bottle marked in manuscript. What in the world

514
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:52,839
is it? Bring that candle? Bridget O distillay maron Montreal?

515
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,880
What in the world did Lycidas bring distilled water from

516
00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:00,000
Montreal for? And then Morton's clear voice in the other room,

517
00:32:00,119 --> 00:32:03,880
M as quick as you can, Fred, yes, in one moment,

518
00:32:04,519 --> 00:32:07,440
put all these on the floor, Bridget, Here they are

519
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:12,480
at last, bourbon, whiskey, corkscrew, Bridget Indeed, sir, and where

520
00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:16,640
is it? Where? I don't know? Run down as quick

521
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,079
as you can and bring it. His wife cannot leave him,

522
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,880
So Bridget ran. And the first I heard was the

523
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,880
rattle as she pitched down the last six stairs of

524
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,119
the first flight headlong. Let us hope she has not

525
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,839
broken her leg. I meanwhile, am driving a silver pronged

526
00:32:32,839 --> 00:32:35,359
fork into the bourbon cork and the blade of my

527
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:40,039
own penknife on the other side. Now, Fred from George within,

528
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,440
we all call Morton. George Yes. In one moment, I replied,

529
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,519
penknife breaks off, fork, pulls right out two crumbs of cork.

530
00:32:49,599 --> 00:32:54,039
Come with it? Will that girl never come? I turned round.

531
00:32:54,599 --> 00:32:58,000
I found a goblet on the washstand. I took Lycidas's

532
00:32:58,039 --> 00:33:00,880
heavy clothes brush and knocked off the neck of the bottle.

533
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,599
Did you ever do it, reader, with one of those

534
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,200
pressed glass bottles they make? Now? It smashed like a

535
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:11,279
prince Rupert's drop in my hand, crumbled into seventy pieces,

536
00:33:11,759 --> 00:33:14,759
a nasty smell of whiskey on the floor, and I

537
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,759
holding just the hard bottom of the thing, with two

538
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,519
large spikes running worthless up into the air. But I

539
00:33:21,599 --> 00:33:24,480
seized the goblet, poured into it what was left in

540
00:33:24,519 --> 00:33:27,240
the bottom, and carried it into Morton as quickly as

541
00:33:27,279 --> 00:33:30,279
I could. He bade me give Lycidas as much as

542
00:33:30,279 --> 00:33:33,519
he could swallow, then showed me how to substitute my

543
00:33:33,599 --> 00:33:37,519
thumb for his and compress that great artery. When he

544
00:33:37,599 --> 00:33:40,119
was satisfied that he could trust me, he began his

545
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,160
work again, silently, just speaking what must be said to

546
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,440
that brave Mary, who seemed to have three hands because

547
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,640
he needed them. When all was secure, he glanced at

548
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,720
the ghastly white face with beads of perspiration on the

549
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,079
forehead and upper lip, laid his finger on the pulse

550
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,279
and said, we will have a little more whisky. No, Mary,

551
00:34:02,319 --> 00:34:06,039
you are overdone. Already, let Fred bring it. The truth

552
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,360
was that poor Mary was almost as white as Lycidys.

553
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,079
She would not faint. That was the only reason she

554
00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:14,800
did not, And at the moment I wondered that she

555
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,280
did not fall. I believe George and I were both

556
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:22,079
expecting it. Now the excitement was over. He called her

557
00:34:22,119 --> 00:34:25,360
Mary and me Fred, because we were all together every

558
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,960
day of our lives. So I retired from my whisky

559
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,320
again to attack that other bottle. George whispered quickly as

560
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,880
I went, bring enough, bring the bobble. Did he want

561
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,920
the bottle corked? Would that celt ever come upstairs? Bridget,

562
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:44,159
you see, was still nowhere. I passed the bell rope

563
00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:46,320
as I went into the dressing room and rang as

564
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,199
hard as I could ring. I took the other bottle

565
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,599
and bit steadily with my teeth at the cork, only

566
00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:55,519
of course, to wrench the end of it off. George

567
00:34:55,519 --> 00:34:58,800
called me, and I stepped back. No, said he bring

568
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,639
your whisky. Mary had just rolled gently back on to

569
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:06,440
the floor. I went again in despair, but I heard

570
00:35:06,519 --> 00:35:11,360
Bridget's step this time. First flight first passage, second flight,

571
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,239
second passage. She ran in in triumph at length with

572
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:20,440
a screwdriver. No, I whispered, no, the crooked thing you

573
00:35:20,559 --> 00:35:23,599
draw corks with, And I showed her the bottle again.

574
00:35:24,159 --> 00:35:27,880
Find one somewhere and don't come back without it. So

575
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:32,800
she vanished for the second time. Frederick said, morton, I

576
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,840
think he's never called me so before. Should I risk

577
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:41,559
the clothes brush again? I opened Lycidis's own drawers, papers, boxes,

578
00:35:41,599 --> 00:35:46,719
everything in order, but not a sign of a tool. Frederick, Yes,

579
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:51,440
I said, But why did I say? Yes, Father of Mercy,

580
00:35:51,519 --> 00:35:55,360
tell me what to do. And my mazed eyes dim

581
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,320
with tears. Did you ever shed tears from excitement? Fell

582
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,360
on an old razor strop of those days of shaving

583
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:07,599
made by C. Whittaker Sheffield? The Sheffield stood in black

584
00:36:07,679 --> 00:36:11,400
letters out from the rest like a vision. They make

585
00:36:11,519 --> 00:36:15,519
corkscrews in Sheffield too, If this Whittaker had only made

586
00:36:15,559 --> 00:36:21,320
a corkscrew. And what is a Sheffield wimble? Hand in

587
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:27,760
my pocket? Brown paper parcel? Where are you? Frederick? Yes,

588
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:33,199
I said, for the last time, twine off, brown paper off?

589
00:36:34,119 --> 00:36:37,880
And then I learned that the Sheffield wimble was one

590
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,880
of those things whose name you never heard before, which

591
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,599
people sell you in Thames Tunnel, where a hoof cleaner,

592
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,679
a gimlet, a screwdriver, and a corkscrew fold up into

593
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:55,320
one handle. Yes, I said again, Pop said the cork bubble, Bubble, bubble,

594
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,920
said the whisky bottle in one hand, full tumbler in

595
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,960
the other. I walked in. George poured half a tumblerfull

596
00:37:03,039 --> 00:37:06,920
down Lycidas's throat that time, Nor do I dare say

597
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:10,199
how much he poured down. Afterwards, I found that there

598
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,079
was need of it, from what he said of the

599
00:37:12,159 --> 00:37:15,239
pulse when it was all over. I guess Mary had

600
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:20,480
some too. This was the turning point. He was exceedingly weak,

601
00:37:20,679 --> 00:37:22,840
and we sat by him in turn through the night,

602
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,079
giving at short intervals stimulants and such food as he

603
00:37:27,079 --> 00:37:31,000
could swallow easily. For I remember Morton was very particular

604
00:37:31,079 --> 00:37:33,280
not to raise his head more than we could help.

605
00:37:34,119 --> 00:37:37,559
But there was no real danger after this. As we

606
00:37:37,639 --> 00:37:40,599
turned away from the house on Christmas morning, I to

607
00:37:40,679 --> 00:37:43,719
preach and he to visit his patients. He said to me,

608
00:37:44,519 --> 00:37:48,599
did you make that whisky? No, said I, But poor

609
00:37:48,679 --> 00:37:52,559
DoD Dalton had to furnish the corkscrew. And I went

610
00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:55,880
down to the chapel to preach. The sermon had been

611
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,119
lying ready at home on my desk, and Polly had

612
00:37:59,119 --> 00:38:01,199
brought it round to me, for there had been no

613
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,599
time for me to go from Lycidas's home to d

614
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,920
Street and to return. There was the text, all as

615
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,960
it was the day before. They helped every one his neighbor,

616
00:38:12,199 --> 00:38:15,159
and every one said to his brother, be of good courage.

617
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:19,760
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth

618
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,920
with the hammer, him that smote with the anvil. And

619
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,679
there were all the pat illustrations as I had finished

620
00:38:26,679 --> 00:38:30,880
writing them yesterday, of the comfort Mary Magdalen gave Joanna

621
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,920
the court Lady, and the comfort the court Lady gave

622
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,440
Mary Magdalen after the mediator of a new covenant had

623
00:38:37,519 --> 00:38:42,000
mediated between them. How Simon the Syrenean and Joseph of

624
00:38:42,039 --> 00:38:46,519
Arimathea and the beggar Bartimaeus comforted each other, gave each

625
00:38:46,559 --> 00:38:51,199
other strength, common force, comfort when the one life flowed

626
00:38:51,199 --> 00:38:54,480
in all their veins. How on board the ship the

627
00:38:54,559 --> 00:38:58,119
tent maker proved to be captain, and the centurion learned

628
00:38:58,159 --> 00:39:01,400
his duty from his prisoner, And how they all came

629
00:39:01,519 --> 00:39:05,800
safe to shore because the new life was there. But

630
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:10,920
as I preached, I caught Fry's eye. Fry is always critical,

631
00:39:11,159 --> 00:39:14,079
And I said to myself, Fry would not take his

632
00:39:14,199 --> 00:39:19,199
illustrations from eighteen hundred years ago. And I saw dear

633
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:23,079
Old DoD Dalton trying to keep awake, and Campbell hard

634
00:39:23,119 --> 00:39:27,119
asleep after trying, and Jane Masury looking round to see

635
00:39:27,119 --> 00:39:30,360
if her mother did not come in, and Ezra Shepherd

636
00:39:30,599 --> 00:39:33,119
looking not so much at me as at the window

637
00:39:33,199 --> 00:39:35,800
beside me, as if his thoughts were on the other

638
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:40,239
side of the world. And I said to them, all, Oh,

639
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,880
if I could tell you, my friends, what every twelve

640
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,840
hours of my life tells me, of the way in

641
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,559
which woman helps woman and man helps man when only

642
00:39:49,599 --> 00:39:53,360
the ice is broken, how we are all rich so

643
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,960
soon as we find out that we are all brothers,

644
00:39:56,199 --> 00:39:58,800
and how we are all in want unless we can

645
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,159
call at any moment for a brother's hand. Then I

646
00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:05,519
could make you understand something in the lives you lead

647
00:40:05,639 --> 00:40:09,639
every day, of what the new Covenant, the new Commonwealth,

648
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,280
the new Kingdom is to be. But I did not

649
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,000
dare tell DoD Dalton what Campbell had been doing for Todd,

650
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:21,039
nor did I dare tell Campbell by what unconscious arts

651
00:40:21,079 --> 00:40:25,199
Old Dodd had been helping Lycidas. Perhaps the sermon would

652
00:40:25,199 --> 00:40:28,480
have been better if I had done so. But when

653
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,760
we had our tree in the evening at home, I

654
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:33,519
did tell all this story to Polly and the bairns,

655
00:40:34,079 --> 00:40:37,159
and I gave Alice her measuring tape precious with a

656
00:40:37,159 --> 00:40:43,159
spot of Lycidas's blood, and Bertha her sheffield wimble. Papa,

657
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,679
said old Clara, who is the next child? All the

658
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:49,360
people gave presents, didn't they as they did in the

659
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:53,280
picture in your study? Yes, said I, though they did

660
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,639
not all know they were giving them. Why did they

661
00:40:56,679 --> 00:41:00,920
not give such presents every day? Said Clara, oh child?

662
00:41:01,119 --> 00:41:03,880
I said, it is only for thirty six hours of

663
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,199
the three hundred and sixty five days that all people

664
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,880
remember that they are all brothers and sisters. And those

665
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,119
are the hours that we call therefore Christmas Eve and

666
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:18,599
Christmas Day. And when they always remember it, said Bertha,

667
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,159
it will be Christmas all the time. What fun? What fun,

668
00:41:23,199 --> 00:41:25,920
to be sure? But Clara, what is in the picture?

669
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,639
Why an old woman has brought eggs to the baby

670
00:41:29,679 --> 00:41:32,480
in the manger, and an old man has brought a sheep.

671
00:41:33,199 --> 00:41:36,800
I suppose they all brought what they had, And I

672
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:40,039
Suppose those who came from Charon brought roses, said Bertha,

673
00:41:41,159 --> 00:41:44,039
and Alice, who is eleven and goes to the Lincoln

674
00:41:44,119 --> 00:41:48,480
School and therefore knows everything, said yes, And the Damascus

675
00:41:48,519 --> 00:41:53,280
people brought Damascus wimbles. This is certain, said Polly, that

676
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,840
nobody tried to give a straw, but the straw, if

677
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:02,719
he gave it, carried a blessing. End of Christmas Waits

678
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,320
in Boston by Edward Everett Hale