THE PETERKINS' CHRISTMAS-TREE.
EARLY in the autumn the Peterkins began to prepare for theirChristmas-tree.
Everything was done in great privacy, as it was to be a surprise to theneighbors, as well as to the rest of the family. Mr. Peterkin had beenup to Mr.
Bromwick's wood-lot, and, with his consent, selected the tree. Agamemnonwent to look at it occasionally after dark, and Solomon John madefrequent visits to it mornings, just after sunrise. Mr. Peterkin droveElizabeth Eliza and her mother that way, and pointed furtively to itwith his whip; but none of them ever spoke of it aloud to each other.It was suspected that the little boys had been to see it Wednesdayand Saturday afternoons. But they came home with their pockets full ofchestnuts, and said nothing about it.
At length Mr. Peterkin had it cut down and brought secretly into theLarkin's barn. A week or two before Christmas a measurement was made ofit with Elizabeth Eliza's yard-measure. To Mr. Peterkin's great dismayit was discovered that it was too high to stand in the back parlor.
This fact was brought out at a secret council of Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin,Elizabeth Eliza, and Agamemnon.
Agamemnon suggested that it might be set up slanting; but Mrs. Peterkinwas very sure it would make her dizzy, and the candles would drip.
But a brilliant idea came to Mr. Peterkin. He proposed that the ceilingof the parlor should be raised to make room for the top of the tree.
Elizabeth Eliza thought the space would need to be quite large. It mustnot be like a small box, or you could not see the tree.
"Yes," said Mr. Peterkin, "I should have the ceiling lifted all acrossthe room; the effect would be finer."
Elizabeth Eliza objected to having the whole ceiling raised, becauseher room was over the back parlor, and she would have no floor while thealteration was going on, which would be very awkward. Besides, her roomwas not very high now, and, if the floor were raised, perhaps she couldnot walk in it upright.
Mr. Peterkin explained that he didn't propose altering the wholeceiling, but to life up a ridge across the room at the back part wherethe tree was to stand.
This would make a hump, to be sure, in Elizabeth Eliza's room; but itwould go across the whole room.
Elizabeth Eliza said she would not mind that. It would be like the cuddything that comes up on the deck of a ship, that you sit against, onlyhere you would not have the sea-sickness. She thought she should likeit, for a rarity. She might use it for a divan.
Mrs. Peterkin thought it would come in the worn place of the carpet, andmight be a convenience in making the carpet over.
Agamemnon was afraid there would be trouble in keeping the mattersecret, for it would be a long piece of work for a carpenter; but Mr.Peterkin proposed having the carpenter for a day or two, for a number ofother jobs.
One of them was to make all the chairs in the house of the same height,for Mrs. Peterkin had nearly broken her spine by sitting down in a chairthat she had supposed was her own rocking-chair, and it had proved tobe two inches lower. The little boys were now large enough to sit inany chair; so a medium was fixed upon to satisfy all the family, and thechairs were made uniformly of the same height.
On consulting the carpenter, however, he insisted that the tree could becut off at the lower end to suit the height of the parlor, and demurredat so great a change as altering the ceiling. But Mr. Peterkin had sethis mind upon the improvement, and Elizabeth Eliza had cut her carpet inpreparation for it.
So the folding-doors into the back parlor were closed, and for nearly afortnight before Christmas there was great litter of fallen plastering,and laths, and chips, and shavings; and Elizabeth Eliza's carpet wastaken up, and the furniture had to be changed, and one night she hadto sleep at the Bromwicks', for there was a long hole in her floor thatmight be dangerous.
All this delighted the little boys. They could not understand what wasgoing on.
Perhaps they suspected a Christmas-tree, but they did not know why aChristmas-tree should have so many chips, and were still more astonishedat the hump that appeared in Elizabeth Eliza's room. It must be aChristmas present, or else the tree in a box.
Some aunts and uncles, too, arrived a day or two before Christmas, withsome small cousins. These cousins occupied the attention of the littleboys, and there was a great deal of whispering and mystery, behinddoors, and under the stairs, and in the corners of the entry.
Solomon John was busy, privately making some candles for the tree. Hehad been collecting some bayberries, as he understood they made verynice candles, so that it would not be necessary to buy any.
The elders of the family never all went into the back parlor together,and all tried not to see what was going on. Mrs. Peterkin would go inwith Solomon John, or Mr. Peterkin with Elizabeth Eliza, or ElizabethEliza and Agamemnon and Solomon John. The little boys and the smallcousins were never allowed even to look inside the room.
Elizabeth Eliza meanwhile went into town a number of times. She wantedto consult Amanda as to how much ice-cream they should need, and whetherthey could make it at home, as they had cream and ice. She was prettybusy in her own room; the furniture had to be changed, and the carpetaltered. The "hump" was higher than she expected. There was dangerof bumping her own head whenever she crossed it. She had to nail somepadding on the ceiling for fear of accidents.
The afternoon before Christmas, Elizabeth Eliza, Solomon John, and theirfather collected in the back parlor for a council. The carpenters haddone their work, and the tree stood at its full height at the back ofthe room, the top stretching up into the space arranged for it. All thechips and shavings were cleared away, and it stood on a neat box.
But what were they to put upon the tree?
Solomon John had brought in his supply of candles; but they proved to bevery "stringy" and very few of them. It was strange how many bayberriesit took to make a few candles! The little boys had helped him, andhe had gathered as much as a bushel of bayberries. He had put them inwater, and skimmed off the wax, according to the directions; but therewas so little wax!
Solomon John had given the little boys some of the bits sawed off fromthe legs of the chairs. He had suggested that they should cover themwith gilt paper, to answer for gilt apples, without telling them whatthey were for.
These apples, a little blunt at the end, and the candles were all theyhad for the tree!
After all her trips into town Elizabeth Eliza had forgotten to bringanything for it.
"I thought of candies and sugar-plums," she said; "but I concluded if wemade caramels ourselves we should not need them. But, then, we have notmade caramels. The fact is, that day my head was full of my carpet. Ihad bumped it pretty badly, too."
Mr. Peterkin wished he had taken, instead of a fir-tree, an apple-treehe had seen in October, full of red fruit.
"But the leaves would have fallen off by this time," said ElizabethEliza.
"And the apples, too," said Solomon John.
"It is odd I should have forgotten, that day I went in on purpose to getthe things," said Elizabeth Eliza, musingly. "But I went from shopto shop, and didn't know exactly what to get. I saw a great many giltthings for Christmas-trees; but I knew the little boys were makingthe gilt apples; there were plenty of candles in the shops, but I knewSolomon John was making the candles."
Mr. Peterkin thought it was quite natural.
Solomon John wondered if it were too late for them to go into town now.
Elizabeth Eliza could not go in the next morning, for there was to bea grand Christmas dinner, and Mr. Peterkin could not be spared, andSolomon John was sure he and Agamemnon would not know what to buy.Besides, they would want to try the candles to-night.
Mr. Peterkin asked if the presents everybody had been preparing wouldnot answer. But Elizabeth Eliza knew they would be too heavy.
A gloom came over the room. There was only a flickering gleam from oneof Solomon John's candles that he had lighted by way of trial.
Solomon John again proposed going into town. He lighted a match to
examine the newspaper about the trains. There were plenty of trainscoming out at that hour, but none going in except a very late one. Thatwould not leave time to do anything and come back.
"We could go in, Elizabeth Eliza and I," said Solomon John, "but weshould not have time to buy anything."
Agamemnon was summoned in. Mrs. Peterkin was entertaining the uncles andaunts in the front parlor. Agamemnon wished there was time to studyup something about electric lights. If they could only have a calciumlight! Solomon John's candle sputtered and went out.
At this moment there was a loud knocking at the front door. Thelittle boys, and the small cousins, and the uncles and aunts, and Mrs.Peterkin, hastened to see what was the matter.
The uncles and aunts thought somebody's house must be on fire. The doorwas opened, and there was a man, white with flakes, for it was beginningto snow, and he was pulling in a large box.
Mrs. Peterkin supposed it contained some of Elizabeth Eliza's purchases,so she ordered it to be pushed into the back parlor, and hastily calledback her guests and the little boys into the other room. The little boysand the small cousins were sure they had seen Santa Claus himself.
Mr. Peterkin lighted the gas. The box was addressed to Elizabeth Eliza.It was from the lady from Philadelphia! She had gathered a hint fromElizabeth Eliza's letters that there was to be a Christmas-tree, and hadfilled this box with all that would be needed.
It was opened directly. There was every kind of gilt hanging-thing, fromgilt pea-pods to butterflies on springs. There were shining flags andlanterns, and birdcages, and nests with birds sitting on them, basketsof fruit, gilt apples and bunches of grapes, and, at the bottom of thewhole, a large box of candles and a box of Philadelphia bonbons!
Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John could scarcely keep from screaming. Thelittle boys and the small cousins knocked on the folding-doors to askwhat was the matter.
Hastily Mr. Peterkin and the rest took out the things and hung them onthe tree, and put on the candles.
When all was done, it looked so well that Mr. Peterkin exclaimed:--"Letus light the candles now, and send to invite all the neighbors to-night,and have the tree on Christmas Eve!"
And so it was that the Peterkins had their Christmas-tree the daybefore, and on Christmas night could go and visit their neighbors.
The Peterkin papers Page 11
