Once upon a time, a long time ago, far away across the great ocean, in
a country called Germany, there could be seen a small log hut on the
edge of a great forest, whose fir trees extended for miles and miles
to the north. This little house, made of heavy hewn logs, had but one
room in it. A rough pine door gave entrance to this room, and a small
square window admitted the light. At the back of the house was built
an old-fashioned stone chimney, out of which in winter curled a thin,
blue smoke, showing that there was not very much fire within.
Small as the house was, it was large enough for two people who lived
in it. I want to tell you a story today about these two people. One
was an old gray-haired woman, so old that the little children of the
village, nearly half a mile away, often wondered whether she had come
into the world with the huge mountains and the giant fir trees, which
stood like giants back of her small hut. Her face was wrinkled all
over with deep lines, which, if the children could only have read
aright, would have told them of many years of cheerful, happy,
self-sacrifice; of loving, anxious, watching beside sick-beds; of
quiet endurance of pain, of many a day of hunger and cold, and of a
thousand deeds of unselfish love for other people; but, of course,
they could not read this strange handwriting. They only knew that she
was old and wrinkled, and that she stooped as she walked. None of
them seemed to fear her, for her smile was always cheerful, and she
had a kindly word for each of them if they chanced to meet her on her
way to and from the village. With this old, old woman lived a very
little girl. So bright and happy was she that the travellers who
passed by the lonesome little house on the edge of the forest often
thought of a sunbeam as they saw her. These two people were known in
the village as Granny Goodyear and Little Gretchen.
The winter had come and the frost had snapped off many of the smaller
branches of the pine trees in the forest. Gretchen and her granny were
up by daybreak each morning. After their simple breakfast of oatmeal,
Gretchen would run to the little closet and fetch Granny's old woolen
shawl, which seemed almost as old as Granny herself. Gretchen always
claimed the right to put the shawl over Granny's head, even though she
had to climb onto the wooden bench to do it. After carefully pinning
it under Granny's chin, she gave her a good-bye kiss, and Granny
started out for her morning's work in the forest. This work was
nothing more nor less than the gathering up of the twigs and branches
which the autumn winds and winter frosts had thrown upon the ground.
These were carefully gathered into a large bundle which Granny tied
together with a strong linen band. She then managed to lift the bundle
to her shoulder and trudged off to the village with it. Here she sold
the fagots for kindling wood to the people of the village. Sometimes
she would get only a few pence each day, and sometimes a dozen or
more, but on this money little Gretchen and she managed to live; they
had their home, and the forest kindly furnished the wood for the fire
which kept them warm in winter.
In the summer time Granny had a little garden at the back of the
house, where she raised, with little Gretchen's help, a few potatoes
and turnips and onions. These she carefully stored away for winter
use. To this meagre supply, the pennies, gained by selling the twigs
from the forest, added the oatmeal for Gretchen and a little black
coffee for Granny. Meat was a thing they never thought of having. It
cost too much money. Still, Granny and Gretchen were very happy,
because they loved each other dearly. Sometimes Gretchen would be left
alone all day long in the hut, because Granny would have some work to
do in the village after selling her bundle of sticks and twigs. It was
during these long days that little Gretchen had taught herself to sing
the song which the wind sang to the pine branches. In the summer time
she learned the chirp and twitter of the birds, until her voice might
almost be mistaken for a bird's voice, she learned to dance as the
swaying shadows did, and even to talk to the stars which shone through
the little square window when Granny came home late or too tired to
talk.
Sometimes, when the weather was fine, or her Granny had an extra
bundle of knitted stockings to take to the village, she would let
little Gretchen go along with her. It chanced that one of these trips
to the town came just the week before Christmas, and Gretchen's eyes
were delighted by the sight of the lovely Christmas trees which stood
in the window of the village store. It seemed to her that she would
never tire of looking at the knit dolls, the woolly lambs, the little
wooden shops with their queer, painted men and women in them, and all
the other fine things. She had never owned a plaything in her whole
life; therefore, toys which you and I would not think much of seemed
to her very beautiful.
That night, after their supper of baked potatoes was over, and little
Gretchen had cleared away the dishes and swept up the hearth, because
Granny dear was so tired, she brought her own little wooden stool and
placed it very near Granny's feet and sat down upon it, folding her
hands on her lap. Granny knew that this meant that she wanted to be
told about something, so she smilingly laid away the large Bible which
she had been reading, and took up her knitting, which was as much as
to say: "Well, Gretchen, dear, Granny is ready to listen."
"Granny," said Gretchen slowly, "It's almost Christmas time, isn't
it?"
"Yes, dearie," said Granny, "only five days more now," and then she
sighed, but little Gretchen was so happy that she did not notice
Granny's sigh.
"What do you think, Granny, I'll get this Christmas?" said she,
looking up eagerly into Granny's face.
"Ah, child, child," said Granny, shaking her head, "you'll have no
Christmas this year. We are too poor for that."
"Oh, but Granny," interrupted little Gretchen, "think of all the
beautiful toys we saw in the village today. Surely Santa Claus has
sent enough for every little child."
"Ah, dearie, those toys are for people who can pay for them, and we
have no money to spend for Christmas toys."
"Well, Granny," said Gretchen, "perhaps some of the little children
who live in the great house on the hill at the other end of the
village, will be willing to share some of their toys with me. They
will be glad to give some to a little girl who has none."
"Dear child, dear child," said Granny, leaning forward and stroking
the soft, shiny hair of the little girl, "your heart is full of love.
You would be glad to bring a Christmas to every child; but their heads
are so full of what they are going to get that they forget all about
anybody else but themselves." Then she sighed and shook her head.
"Well, Granny," said Gretchen, her bright, happy tone of voice growing
a little less joyous, "perhaps the dear Santa Claus will show some of
the village children how to make presents that do not cost money, and
some of them may surprise me Christmas morning with a present. And,
Granny, dear," added she, springing up from her low stool, "can't I
gather some of the pine branches and take them to the old sick man who
lives in the house by the mill, so that he can have the sweet smell of
our forest in his room all Christmas day?"
"Yes, dearie," said Granny, "you may do what you can to make the
Christmas bright and happy, but you must not expect any present
yourself."
"Oh, but, Granny," said little Gretchen, her face brightening, "you
forgot all about the shining Christmas angels, who came down to earth
and sang their wonderful song the night the beautiful Christ-Child was
born! They are so loving and good that _they_ will not forget any
little child. I shall ask my dear stars tonight to tell them of us.
You know," she added, with a look of relief, "the stars are so very
high that they must know the angels quite well as they come and go
with their messages from the loving God."
Granny sighed as she half whispered. "Poor child, poor child!" but
Gretchen threw her arm around Granny's neck and gave her a hearty
kiss, saying as she did so: "Oh, Granny, Granny, you don't talk to the
stars often enough, else you would not be sad at Christmas time." Then
she danced all around the room, whirling her little skirts about her
to show Granny how the wind had made the snow dance that day. She
looked so droll and funny that Granny forgot her cares and worries and
laughed with little Gretchen over her new snow dance. The days passed
on and the morning before Christmas Eve came. Gretchen having tidied
up the little room--for Granny had taught her to be a careful little
housewife--was off to the forest, singing a birdlike song, almost as
happy and free as the birds themselves. She was very busy that day
preparing a surprise for Granny. First, however, she gathered the most
beautiful of the fir branches within her reach to take the next
morning to the old sick man who lived by the mill.
The day was all too short for the happy little girl. When Granny came
trudging wearily home that night, she found the frame of the doorway
covered with green pine branches.
"It is to welcome you, Granny! It is to welcome you!" cried Gretchen;
"our dear old home wanted to give you a Christmas welcome. Don't you
see, the branches of the evergreen make it look as if it were smiling
all over, and it is trying to say, 'A happy Christmas to you Granny'."
Granny laughed and kissed the little girl, as they opened the door and
went in together. Here was a new surprise for Granny. The four posts
of the wooden bed, which stood in one corner of the room, had been
trimmed by the busy little fingers, with smaller and more flexible
branches of the pine trees. A small bouquet of red mountain ash
berries stood at each side of the fireplace, and these, together with
the trimmed posts of the bed, gave the plain old room quite a festive
look. Gretchen laughed and clapped her hands and danced about until
the house seemed full of music to poor, tired Granny, whose heart had
been sad as she turned toward their home that night, thinking of the
disappointment that must come to loving little Gretchen the next
morning.
After supper was over little Gretchen drew her stool up to Granny's
side, and laying her soft, little hands on Granny's knee asked to be
told once again the story of the coming of the Christ-Child; how the
night that he was born the beautiful angels had sung their wonderful
song, and how the whole sky had become bright with a strange and
glorious light, never seen by the people of earth before. Gretchen had
heard the story many, many times before, but she never grew tired of
it, and now that Christmas Eve had come again, the happy little child
wanted to hear it once more.
When Granny had finished telling it the two sat quiet and silent for a
little while thinking it over; then Granny rose and said that it was
time for her to go to bed. She slowly took off her heavy wooden shoes,
such as are worn in that country, and placed them beside the hearth.
Gretchen looked thoughtfully at them for a minute or two, and then she
said, "Granny, don't you think that _somebody_ in all this wide world
will think of us tonight?"
"Nay, Gretchen, I do not think any one will."
"Well, then, Granny," said Gretchen, "the Christmas angels will, I
know; so I am going to take one of your wooden shoes and put it on the
windowsill outside, so that they may see it as they pass by. I am sure
the stars will tell the Christmas angels where the shoe is."
"Ah, you foolish, foolish child," said Granny, "you are only getting
ready for a disappointment. Tomorrow morning there will be nothing
whatever in the shoe. I can tell you that now."
But little Gretchen would not listen. She only shook her head and
cried out: "Ah, Granny, you do not talk enough to the stars." With
this she seized the shoe, and opening the door, hurried out to place
it on the window sill. It was very dark without and something soft and
cold seemed to gently kiss her hair and face. Gretchen knew by this
that it was snowing, and she looked up to the sky, anxious to see if
the stars were in sight, but a strong wind was tumbling the dark,
heavy snow-clouds about and had shut away all else.
"Never mind," said Gretchen softly to herself, "the stars are up
there, even if I can't see them, and the Christmas angels do not mind
snow storms."
Just then a rough wind went sweeping by the little girl, whispering
something to her which she could not understand, and then it made a
sudden rush up to the snow clouds and parted them, so that the deep
mysterious sky appeared beyond, and shining down out of the midst of
it was Gretchen's favorite star.
"Ah, little star, little star!" said the child, laughing aloud, "I
knew you were there, though I could not see you. Will you whisper to
the Christmas angels as they come by that little Gretchen wants so
very much to have a Christmas gift tomorrow morning, if they have one
to spare, and that she has put one of Granny's shoes upon the
windowsill for it?"
A moment more and the little girl, standing on tiptoe had reached the
windowsill and placed the shoe upon it, and was back again in the
house beside Granny and the warm fire.
The two went quietly to bed, and that night as little Gretchen knelt
to pray to the Heavenly Father, she thanked him for having sent the
Christ-Child into the world to teach all mankind to be loving and
unselfish, and in a few minutes she was sleeping, dreaming of the
Christmas angels.
The next morning, very early, even before the sun was up, little
Gretchen was awakened by the sound of sweet music coming from the
village. She listened for a moment and then she knew that the choir
boys were singing the Christmas carols in the open air of the village
street. She sprang up out of bed and began to dress herself as quickly
as possible, singing as she dressed. While Granny was slowly putting
on her clothes, little Gretchen having finished dressing herself,
unfastened the door and hurried out to see what the Christmas angels
had left in the old wooden shoe.
The white snow covered everything--trees, stumps, roads, and
pastures--until the whole world looked like fairy land. Gretchen
climbed up on a large stone which was beneath the window and carefully
lifted down the wooden shoe. The snow tumbled off of it in a shower
over the little girl's hands, but she did not heed that; she ran
hurriedly back into the house, putting her hand into the toe of the
shoe as she ran.
"Oh, Granny, Granny!" she exclaimed; "you did not believe the
Christmas angels would think about us, but see, they have, they have!
Here is a dear little bird nestled down in the toe of your shoe! Oh,
isn't he beautiful?"
Granny came forward and looked at what the child was holding lovingly
in her hand. There she saw a tiny chick-a-dee, whose wing was
evidently broken by the rough and boisterous winds of the night
before, and who had taken shelter in the safe, dry toe of the old
wooden shoe. She gently took the little bird out of Gretchen's hands,
and skilfully bound his broken wing to his side, so that he need not
hurt himself trying to fly with it. Then she showed Gretchen how to
make a nice warm nest for the little stranger, close beside the fire
and when their breakfast was ready, she let Gretchen feed the little
bird with a few moist crumbs.
Later in the day Gretchen carried the fresh, green boughs to the old
sick man by the mill, and on her way home stopped to enjoy the
Christmas toys of some other children that she knew, never once
wishing they were hers. When she reached home she found that the
little bird had gone to sleep. Soon, however, he opened his eyes and
stretched his head up, saying just as plain as a bird can say:
"Now, my new friends, I want you to give me something more to eat."
Gretchen gladly fed him again, and then, holding him in her lap, she
softly and gently stroked his gray feathers until the little creature
seemed to lose all fear of her. That evening Granny taught her a
Christmas hymn and told her another beautiful Christmas story. Then
Gretchen made up a funny little story to tell the birdie. He winked
his eyes and turned his head from side to side in such a droll fashion
that Gretchen laughed until the tears came.
As Granny and she got ready for bed that night, Gretchen put her arms
softly around Granny's neck, and whispered: "What a beautiful
Christmas we have had today, Granny. Is there anything more lovely in
all the world than Christmas?"
"Nay, child, nay," said Granny, "not to such loving hearts as yours."
[*] Reprinted by permission of the author from her collection,
"Christmastide." Published by the Chicago Kindergarten College.
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