The Spirit of Christmas

By Henry Van Dyke

"The Spirit of Christmas" by Henry Van Dyke. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Dec 11, 2019
• ISBN: 4064066228019

Henry Van Dyke

Henry Van Dyke (1928–2011) was born in Allegan, Michigan, and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where his parents were professors at Alabama State College. He served in the Army in occupied Germany, playing flute in the 427th Marching Band. There he abandoned his early ambition to become a concert pianist and began to write. In 1958, after attending the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill and living in Ann Arbor, he moved to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry taught creative writing part-time at Kent State University from 1969 until his retirement in 1993, and was the author of four novels, including Blood of Strawberries, a sequel to Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes.

Book preview

Henry Van Dyke

The Spirit of Christmas

Published by Good Press, 2019

[e-mail]

EAN 4064066228019

Table of Contents

A DREAM-STORY

THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL

A LITTLE ESSAY

CHRISTMAS-GIVING AND CHRISTMAS-LIVING

I

II

A SHORT CHRISTMAS SERMON

KEEPING CHRISTMAS

TWO CHRISTMAS PRAYERS

A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR THE HOME

A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR LONELY FOLKS

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A DREAM-STORY

Table of Contents

THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL

Table of Contents

It was the hour of rest in the Country Beyond the Stars. All the silver bells that swing with the turning of the great ring of light which lies around that land were softly chiming; and the sound of their commotion went down like dew upon the golden ways of the city, and the long alleys of blossoming trees, and the meadows of asphodel, and the curving shores of the River of Life.

At the hearing of that chime, all the angels who had been working turned to play, and all who had been playing gave themselves joyfully to work. Those who had been singing, and making melody on different instruments, fell silent and began to listen. Those who had been walking alone in meditation met together in companies to talk. And those who had been far away on errands to the Earth and other planets came homeward like a flight of swallows to the high cliff when the day is over.

It was not that they needed to be restored from weariness, for the inhabitants of that country never say, I am tired. But there, as here, the law of change is the secret of happiness, and the joy that never