The Romance of a Christmas Card
()
About this ebook
Kate Douglas Wiggin
Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856–1923) was an American educator, author, and advocate who is best known for writing Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. After graduating from kindergarten-teacher training in Santa Barbara, Wiggins moved to San Francisco, where she founded the first free kindergarten on Silver Street in 1878.
Read more from Kate Douglas Wiggin
Big Book of Christmas Tales: 250+ Short Stories, Fairytales and Holiday Myths & Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Children's Stories (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Arabian Nights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest Christmas Stories: 120+ Authors, 250+ Magical Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArabian Nights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ultimate Christmas Library: 100+ Authors, 200 Novels, Novellas, Stories, Poems and Carols Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS (Children's Book Classic): Heartwarming Family Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Chronicles of Rebecca Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolly Oliver's Problem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsREBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM & NEW CHRONICLES OF REBECCA (Adventure Novels) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cathedral Courtship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5New Chronicles of Rebecca Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Arabian Nights: Their Best Known Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Romance of a Christmas Card
Related ebooks
The Romance of a Christmas Card Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Romance of a Christmas Card (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Romance of a Christmas Card Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStepping Heavenward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Betty's Bright Idea, Deacon Pitkin's Farm, and The First Christmas in New England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaffodils in the South Wind: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Second Coming: A sad and twisted saga of an American church. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrave Stones: The Bloodstone Quadrilogy, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mercy (The Rose Trilogy Book #3) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heiress Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Bittersweet Murder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Christmas of New England (Musaicum Christmas Specials) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiss Charity's Case: A Regency Romance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gudsriki Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Christmas of New England: Including Other Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Christmas of New England & Other Christmas Stories by Harriet Beecher Stowe: Christmas Specials Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Husband For Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rustle of Leaves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Silas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Thin the Veil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Chapel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Damned Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Praying Well: Pray That No One Is Listening Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDevota Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Preacher's Daughter (Annie’s People Book #1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Somewhat Saved Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Silas: Gothic Mystery Classic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wisdom of Fools Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Longing (The Courtship of Nellie Fisher Book #3) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Holidays For You
50 Beautiful Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: Jewish Traditions, Customs, and Values for Today's Families Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NIV, Easter Story from the Family Reading Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Resurrection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus Calling Book Club Discussion Guide for Women Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-with-Us Then, Here, and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Journey to the Cross: A 40-Day Lenten Devotional Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Preparing for Easter: Fifty Devotional Readings from C. S. Lewis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy Week Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unwrapping the Names of Jesus: An Advent Devotional Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Devotional for Progressive Christians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus Lives: Seeing His Love in Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion through Ten Objects Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the manger: 25 Inspirational Selections for Advent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/540 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Celebrating Christmas with Jesus: An Advent Devotional Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Walk: Five Essential Practices of the Christian Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/540 Days of Jesus Always: Joy in His Presence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus Calling for Christmas, with Full Scriptures Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelfth Night Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For This We Left Egypt?: A Passover Haggadah for Jews and Those Who Love Them Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rational Passover Haggadah Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Romance of a Christmas Card
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Romance of a Christmas Card - Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Romance of a Christmas Card
I
It was Christmas Eve and a Saturday night when Mrs. Larrabee, the Beulah minister’s wife, opened the door of the study where her husband was deep in the revision of his next day’s sermon, and thrust in her comely head framed in a knitted rigolette.
Luther, I’m going to run down to Letty’s. We think the twins are going to have measles; it’s the only thing they haven’t had, and Letty’s spirits are not up to concert pitch. You look like a blessed old prophet to-night, my dear! What’s the text?
The minister pushed back his spectacles and ruffled his gray hair.
"Isaiah VI, 8: ‘And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying whom shall I send?… Then said I, Here am I, send me!‘"
It doesn’t sound a bit like Christmas, somehow.
It has the spirit, if it hasn’t the sound,
said the minister. There is always so little spare money in the village that we get less and less accustomed to sharing what we have with others. I want to remind the people that there are different ways of giving, and that the bestowing of one’s self in service and good deeds can be the best of all gifts. Letty Boynton won’t need the sermon!—Don’t be late, Reba.
Of course not. When was I ever late? It has just struck seven and I’ll be back by eight to choose the hymns. And oh! Luther, I have some fresh ideas for Christmas cards and I am going to try my luck with them in the marts of trade. There are hundreds of thousands of such things sold nowadays; and if the ‘Boston Banner’ likes my verses well enough to send me the paper regularly, why shouldn’t the people who make cards like them too, especially when I can draw and paint my own pictures?
I’ve no doubt they’ll like them; who wouldn’t? If the parish knew what a ready pen you have, they’d suspect that you help me in my sermons! The question is, will the publishers send you a check, or only a copy of your card?
I should relish a check, I confess; but oh! I should like almost as well a beautifully colored card, Luther, with a picture of my own inventing on it, my own verse, and R. L. in tiny letters somewhere in the corner! It would make such a lovely Christmas present! And I should be so proud; inside of course, not outside! I would cover my halo with my hat so that nobody in the congregation would ever notice it!
The minister laughed.
Consult Letty, my dear. David used to be in some sort of picture business in Boston. She will know, perhaps, where to offer your card!
At the introduction of a new theme into the conversation Mrs. Larrabee slipped into a chair by the door, her lantern swinging in her hand.
David can’t be as near as Boston or we should hear of him sometimes. A pretty sort of brother to be meandering foot-loose over the earth, and Letty working her fingers to the bone to support his children—twins at that! It was just like David Gilman to have twins! Doesn’t it seem incredible that he can let Christmas go by without a message? I dare say he doesn’t even remember that his babies were born on Christmas eve. To be sure he is only Letty’s half-brother, but after all they grew up together and are nearly the same age.
You always judged David a little severely, Reba. Don’t despair of reforming any man till you see the grass growing over his bare bones. I always have a soft spot in my heart for him when I remember his friendship for my Dick; but that was before your time.—Oh! these boys, these boys!
The minister’s voice quavered. We give them our very life-blood. We love them, cherish them, pray over them, do our best to guide them, yet they take the path that leads from home. In some way, God knows how, we fail to call out the return love, or even the filial duty and respect!—Well, we won’t talk about it, Reba; my business is to breathe the breath of life into my text: ‘Here am I, Lord, send me!’ Letty certainly continues to say it heroically, whatever her troubles.
Yes, Letty is so ready for service that she will always be sent, till the end of time; but if David ever has an interview with his Creator I can hear him say:
‘Here am I, Lord; send Letty!’"
The minister laughed again. He laughed freely and easily nowadays. His first wife