V.
STOCKINGS FILLED WITH MUSIC, RAINBOWS, SENSE, BACKBONE, SUNSETS, IMPULSES, GOLD SPOON, IDEALS, SUNSHINE, STAR, MANTLE, FLOWERS,--AND THE LIKE QUEER STUFF.
RUTH was the only one left awake in the house. And it was very lonesomefor her. But she had promised to distribute the presents. Mrs. "Judge"told her that the man in the moon would bring them at twelve o'clock,and that he would put them in Turpentine.
Ruth didn't like to go into the Judge's old study, but that was whereshe would find Turpentine; so she ran and got the baby, who had redhair, and served the purpose of a light, and then she bravely went intothe far away part of the parsonage. She took Satan, the cat, because hiseyes were like coals of fire, and helped to drive away the darkness; andshe had Turk for company's sake. The baby was soon astride his back,crowing like a good fellow.
When they got into the old study the light shone right through the doorthat led into Turpentine. It frightened Ruth. She thought the housemight be on fire. But the door swung open of itself; and she and thebaby, Satan and Turk, all entered. The little room was a blaze of glory.She had to put her hands up to her eyes and shade them, because thelight was so strong. It all came from a row of packages arranged on theshelves. And such a wonderful, mysterious, lovely sight you never saw.The packages were various shapes and sizes. They were all done up innothing with greatest care, and each was tied with a narrow piece ofsomething or other. Several packages had strings of blue sky aroundthem, ending in curious bows. Three packages were tied with real littlerainbows. They were beautiful objects. The rest of them had sunsetstwisted about them, gorgeous colors streaming from them in alldirections. Do you wonder that Ruth's eyes were dazzled?
A singular thing about the packages was, that being done up in nothing,and bound with such tenuous and transparent stuff as blue sky, sunsets,and rainbows, one could see straight through these coverings andfastenings, and gaze upon the beautiful things within. Each present hada label of light above it. For instance, there were the shining letters,S,A,M,U,E,L, worked upon the background of darkness over the present forSamuel. The letters seemed to hover above the package just as you seelight hover above children's heads in some pictures of the old masters.So it was very easy for Ruth to pick out the different gifts, and putthem where they belonged. There were seventeen of them. One for eachchild, one for the minister, and one for his wife.
"How nice to remember father and mother!" said Ruth to the dog, the cat,and the baby. "I never thought of that. Now, how shall I carry them?"For she felt that she would like to show them to the Judge and his wife.So she raised the window that connected this closet with the parlor, andtaking each gift, carried it to the piano, and arranged the whole showwhere Mr. and Mrs. "Judge" might see it from the pictures. The baby,Turk, and Satan watched her while she made the change. The parlor waswarm; and just as soon as she brought the marvellous presents into theroom, every nook and cranny was a perfect splendor of brightness. "Dearme!" exclaimed the child, "I must go up-stairs and get some coloredglasses or I shall lose my eyesight." She was gone and back again in oneminute and thirteen seconds. The green goggles gave her a wise and agedappearance, and she seemed to feel the importance of the occasion."Here are the presents, Judge." She was now addressing the pictures."They are just too sweet for anything. How nice it is that I don't haveto undo any of them, but can look right straight through their covers,and see what's in every package!" The Judge and his wife were both wideawake, taking in every word that Ruth spoke.
"Now, what is this for Samuel? A flower, I do believe. He can wear it inhis buttonhole. Oh, how sweet and beautiful it is! The house seems fullof its sweetness. I love it." Ruth bent over to kiss the airy, fragilething. "Why, here's a name under it, and a sentence. Did you write itJudge?" And the picture seemed to nod as much as to say "Yes.""Courtesy." "To be worn all one's waking hours. It will make the wearerwelcome."
The next package was shaped round like a ball. The bow on it was bluesky. "It looks to me like a--what is it you call it, when you look intoa mirror? Oh! I've got it. It's a reflection. Now, that must be forHelen. Yes, I see her name in fine letters of flame above. H,E,L,E,N.You didn't send the curls, did you?" Ruth looked anxiously at Mrs."Judge." "I suppose you thought that as Helen was going to write a bookshe needed reflection more than the curls."
The third package was long. The thing within was long, and it lookedlike nothing that one had ever seen.
"What can it be?" said Ruth to herself. As she took it and felt of it,she found that it was sensitive, yet quite firm. The object was purewhite, not a spot or wrinkle on it. The floating label above the packagespelled out the letters H,E,R,B,E,R,T. Ruth read the name. "That can'tbe backbone. It's too light for that. And yet how strong it is. How inthe world can he ever get that inside of him where it belongs?" Thefourth package was about seven inches in length, rather narrow, andlarger at one end than the other. "I do believe it's a spoon," shoutedRuth. "It must be for Theodora. They've found her gold spoon, and sentit to her. And yet it doesn't look like gold. How funny! When I feel ofit I don't feel of anything. It isn't so pretty as I thought it wouldbe. It has a kind of dull look. But how much better one feels to holdit." Ruth had taken the curious object in her hand, and was putting itup to her lips, and going through various motions with it. "Here is somewriting. The spoon is marked. What big letters they are! Theodora hasn'tall those initials. C,O,N,T,E,N,T,M,E,N,T. Well, that beats me. But Isuppose she'll know what it means."
The child now picked up her own present. They all seemed so bright andwonderful that she had forgotten to choose her own first. Ruth's packagehad a great many sides to it. Every color imaginable appeared on thesurface. It was tied with several little rainbows, and there were everso many streamers and rosettes upon it. She saw her name above; and shesaw some letters printed into the leaves of the flower, for it was alovely, shining little blossom that was contained within her package. Itseemed to her that all the colors of all the rainbows in the sky hadbeen woven into this matchless posey. There were nine leaves to it, andeach leaf was made up of half a dozen shades of one or another color.And then on each leaf there was distinctly seen a letter done in diamondembroidery; so that the light which shot forth from such delicatetracery was almost as bright as the sun. One leaf had S, a second E, athird N, a fourth T, a fifth I, a sixth M, a seventh E, an eighth N, andthe ninth and last T. Ruth spelled it out carefully. S,E,N,T,--here shepaused and thought a moment. "Why, to be sure!" she exclaimed; "it has avery sweet scent. I think it smells quite as good as Samuel's. But Itold you, you remember" (she was now addressing the pictures), "thatfather said I needed sense. I'm afraid he'll say that one 'sent' isn'tenough." Then she continued her spelling. "I, MENT. Well, now, isn'tthat queer? 'I meant.'" She repeated it several times. "I meant cent.Were you trying to correct me, Judge? When I said sense did I mean (whatis it they call it), oh, singular, not plural? Everybody says I've got agreat deal of imagination, but I lack (father says sense but that isn'twhat I mean now)--I lack."... And then Ruth looked at the flower again;and spelled the word, and spoke it aloud. "'SENTIMENT,' that's it.Sentiment. I know what it is. I shall certainly be a poet. They all sayso. Thank you, dear Judge and Mrs. 'Judge.' I'm going to begin to-morrowand write poetry. I feel as if I could write some now. But I must gothrough the presents and put them in the children's stockings first." SoRuth put down her package of "Sentiment," and examined the other gifts.
She took the one marked H,E,N,R,Y into her hands, and the room wasfilled with the most heavenly music. The package was the shape of acylinder. It had a transparent cylinder within it. And this cylinderwas written all over with strange characters, exactly as you see or feelon the cylinder of a graphophone. Only it didn't seem to be made ofanything, and when Ruth took the object into her hands it was likeholding a pinch of air. It appeared to run of its own accord. Ruth wasenchanted with the melodies. They made her think of everything good "inthe heavens above, and in the earth beneath, and in the waters under theearth." She was
so happy that she cried. Every tear that she droppedwent into the machine, and made the music all the sweeter. Then she readthe words under the package. "Music in the soul;" and she felt as if itwere really stealing into her, and as if it were impossible to keep itthere, and she must let this music in the soul go in every direction.
"Isn't this lovely!" she exclaimed. "I never dreamed music in the soulwas so sweet. Why Henry'll be the happiest boy in all the world."
Ruth then took into her hands a heart-shaped package. It was tied upwith a sunset that was gorgeous with a great many shades of red. "Iknow what's inside that package without looking," she said. Although ofcourse she had looked, and seen the form of the present, and noted thecolors used in tying it up. "That's a heart; and it's for George. Isn'tit cunning? Why, what a little thing it is? and it's soft. Will thismake George soft-hearted and tender-hearted and good-hearted? I hope so.It's real nice of you to send it."
The next present was for Elizabeth. It was circular shape, like a smallhoop; some parts of it were light and some dark, some very beautiful andsome almost ugly. Yet the darkest, ugliest spots upon it wereilluminated and glorified by brilliant flashes of what looked likelightning playing around the hoop. When Ruth held the object thissingular brightness would flame up into her face. It didn't hurt. Itfascinated her. She felt like sitting down and watching every change.The words underneath the circle read, "Experience is the best teacher."She spelled it out, then her eyes beamed with delight. "It's the verything that Elizabeth needs. I was afraid you couldn't give it to her. Ihave heard it was hard to pass on experience to other people. NowElizabeth can run the house and mother can travel. That will be realjolly."
"Here is something for Susie," cried Ruth, as she put down Elizabeth'spackage, and took up the next one. "It's a cup made of--of--of--why,isn't that queer?--made of wishes. This is the first time I ever reallysaw a wish. Now, Susie always teases for the wish-bone. And here's a cupmade, not of wish-bones, but of wishes. I wonder if she can drink out ofit. She's always telling how 'thursday' she is. We're sometimes afraidshe'll drink the well dry. Why, the cup is full of something. Itsparkles. 'A Draught of Bliss.' That's what it says under the cup. Iknow what that means. It means to feel as good as one can feel. Well,I'm glad she's going to have it. If the cup spills over we'll catch someof the drops. And if she feels good we'll all feel better." Thus wiselyremarked the child to the pictures.
The next package had a dream wrapped up in it. You never saw anythingmore curious. It was as light as a feather, as bright as a button, assweet as a rose, as gay as a lark, as true as steel, as deep as the sea,as high as heaven, as wise as an owl, as you like it. It had all thehues of the rainbow. It was as odd as Dick's hatband. It went floatingagainst the blue sky. It dipped down into several sunsets as you seeswallows dip down or fly up when a storm is coming. It seemed wellsuited to Nathaniel, the humming-bird sort of a boy. And there were theletters in shotted light over against the gloom, N,A,T,H,A,N,I,E,L.
"Dear little Nathaniel," said Ruth, as she handled the dream carefully,putting it back in its wrappings of nothing, and tying it up again withblue sky, sunsets, and rainbows all mixed together. "Won't he besurprised to see a real dream, and carry it all around town to showfolks. And it's a good dream, a nice dream, I know. I can tell bytouching it and feeling of it all over."
The next package was a large one; and it was for Grace, although shewas not one of the largest girls. It was shaped like a triangle, andwhen you took hold of it the thing seemed to stretch bigger and bigger."What can it be, I wonder," mused Ruth. And then looking keenly throughthe nothing that covered it, she discovered that there were a great manylittle, charming, luminous objects packed into the package. They weredifferent shapes and colors and sizes. But every one of them waspleasant to the touch, alluring to the eye, and melodious to the ear.Whether each one contained a music-box or not, it was impossible to say,but strains of angelic songs kept escaping. It reminded Ruth of Henry's"Music in the Soul." Underneath the triangular box she read these words:"A fine Assortment of Generous Impulses. Warranted Pure." The big wordsshe skipped, except the two, generous impulses. She knew them at once,for she had heard her father say a great deal on that subject.
"Judge, it's very good of you to send these dear, blessed things toGrace. I'm perfectly sure she'll divide up and give every one of us asmany as we like. I should think there might be a hundred in the box. I'ma-going to climb right up here on the piano and kiss both of you." Andshe did; and she carried the generous impulses with her when she did it.
When Ruth jumped down on the floor again she examined Miriam's package.It held a star, a real star. The man in the moon brought it down fromthe sky.
"Isn't this wonderful beyond anything!" exclaimed the child. "How manytimes we've said 'Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what youare,' and now here you are." The little, shrewd, cunning fellow sparkledand glistened so that Ruth's eyes ached in spite of her green goggles.He seemed a very intelligent creature. He could almost talk.
"I heard father say something about plucking the stars from heaven theother day, and then he repeated something about the stars growing cold.This star isn't cold, I know. And there's his name down at the bottom.'A Star of Hope.' Hope so. Now Miriam will be proud enough. We shall seeher going around with her star. I've heard about babies being born undersome star or other. I see now how they could get under. Judge, willMiriam be a star herself now? Do you think she will star it? 'Star ofHope.' This beats me."
Ethel's present was next. The package was so bright that it wasimpossible to tell the shape of it. From every direction the light rayedforth in dazzling brilliancy.
"I'm sure it is a box of glory," cried Ruth. The writing underneath theshining, beautiful thing said "Sunshine."
"Haven't we been singing 'Rise, Shine?' How lovely it will be to haveEthel go about the house scattering sunshine! What strange stuff it is!"As she said this Ruth took a handful of it out of the package andexamined it very closely. "It keeps slipping out of the hands anddropping down to the floor or rising up to the wall. Dear me! how shallI get it back?" She chased it in ten ways at the same time. "But I can'tcatch it," she continued; "and see, there is quite as much of it left asthere was in my hands and the box before it floated away. Oh! won't thisbe nice on rainy days? We can have the house filled with sunshine, evenif it does rain, and the sky is black with clouds. I do think I neversaw such elegant, wonderful presents in all my life, and I don't believeany other children in all this world ever got such things as we have forour Christmas."
The next present was for William. As Ruth looked at it she seemed lostin thought. She was studying it out. There wasn't any shape to thething. The package itself didn't have any shape. It was a beautiful massof light. Yet the longer you looked at it, the more lovely, attractive,and real it appeared. Finally it did take a shape; and when you made upyour mind that it was round or square or octagonal or irregular orsomething else, the shapeliness of the thing vanished.
"I wonder if it's a thought?" the child said to herself. "I've oftenthought I'd like to see what a thought looks like. I hear so much aboutthought and thoughts, that I'm real curious. Father told mother theother day that I was a very thoughtful child. If I'm thought_ful_, seemsto me I ought to see a good many or feel 'em." Then she looked downunder the package, and read, "A Bundle of I,D,E,A,L,S."
"Why, I don't see any bundle," she exclaimed. But that moment the massof light changed into strands of willowy brightness, and she could seethere was a neat little bundle of these shining threads. She took thebundle into her hands and pulled out one. This first strand was straightas an arrow, and there suddenly showed itself at the bottom of it achain of letters. The strand of splendor, in fact, appeared to grow outof these letters. They were M,A,N,L,I,N,E,S,S. The letters were made inquaint forms, and they were indescribably beautiful. Ruth pulled outanother strand from the bundle. This seemed larger and more solid thanthe first, and quite as precious. Letters soon formed into a chain atthe lower end, and these
were W,O,R,T,H. She pulled out the thirdstrand. It seemed almost alive, being in constant motion. The chain ofletters beneath it was as follows: S,E,R,V,I,C,E. A fourth strand hadthe letters H,O,N,O,R entwined about one end. And there were many othersimilar strands. Ruth had on her thinking-cap (made of nothingparticular, and trimmed with everything in general) all the time thatshe was examining them. Of a sudden the word "Ideals" struck her.
"I know now what these bright, lovely things are," she cried. "I'veheard father preach about them, and he has told us children I thinkhundreds of times. He says we must all have them, and have the best too.Why didn't you think of it before? Judge, you're just as good as you canbe." Ruth was talking to the pictures. "Father and mother will be verythankful that you have brought all these into the family. I know what anIdeal is. It's what you want to be, and try to be. Haven't I heardSamuel and Elizabeth and the older ones talk about high ideals?" As shespoke she shook the radiant little bundle, and saw all sorts of great,noble men and fine, lovely women spring right out of the brightness,taking form before her face and eyes. "I do declare that looks likeWilliam." She was gazing at one of the tiny, luminous faces thatappeared against the shadows. "We shall all pop into the light likethat, I expect. That must be what father calls attaining one's Ideal.Isn't it grand? Yes, there come the other children. One springs out ofone Ideal, and another out of another. It's just like a fairy tale. ButI never dreamed what curious things Ideals were. How rich we shall be?"Then Ruth gathered the Ideals together, and put them back where shefound them.
The next present was for her mother. It was resting on an air-cushionin a casket of love. It seemed to Ruth that the sun and moon and a goodmany stars had got into that package. It took more rainbows than you canshake a stick at to tie up the package securely, so that nothing couldget to it. The present was a crown, and underneath were the words "AMother's Jewels." There were fifteen of them, no two alike. The crownwas a cloud with a silver lining. Ruth took it in her hands, and puttingit on her head, felt the light running all down her head and over herface. It wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. But the top of the crownwas the most wonderful. All the fifteen jewels studded it, so that, asone wore it, anybody standing by would almost think that the brightestlights in the heavens had been borrowed, and wrought into thishead-dress. And each jewel had a name all about it, the letters beingmade of the very smallest stars that you can find out of doors. Thechild was too astonished and delighted to talk as she examined thisgift. She put it back in its casket without one word. It took herbreath away, so that she couldn't say anything.
By the side of this package was one for her father. She was glad to turnto it, for it was not so splendid and marvellous that it dumfounded her.His package had a bottle in it.
"I believe it's made of forget-me-nots," said Ruth. She took it into herhands, and found it was woven like basket work, a sort of wicker bottle.Only the stems of the plants were so intertwisted that the blossoms allcame to the outside. But both stems and blossoms were perfectlytransparent, so you could see straight through into the inside."E,S,S,E,N,C,E of C,H,E,E,R,F,U,L,N,E,S,S. To be taken eternally." Thiswas written beneath, and Ruth spelled the two big words slowly. "I knowwhat that means," she continued. "The Judge is going to give father somemore sense. For essence, of course, is only another kind of sense. Oh! Iforgot the essence man. He brings us peppermint and vanilla and cologne.We season things, and make ourselves smell good. Now, that's whatyou've sent to father, isn't it? Essence of Cheerfulness. You want himto season things with cheerfulness, don't you, and make himself and allthe rest of us fragrant? And he'll do it. He's always saying that weought to be cheerful. But what kind of stuff is it?" and Ruth tipped upthe bottle to taste of its contents. She smacked her lips and beamedwith delight. "I do believe it's a spirit. Father says, you can't seespirit but you can feel it. I can't see anything but light in thatbottle, but I can feel something all through me. I must dance a little,I feel so good. Oh, dear me! that's the way people sometimes act whenthey've drunk from bad bottles. But I can't help it." She caught herskirts in each hand, and airily waltzed up and down the room.
"I must see if the mantle is here," she suddenly exclaimed. "How strangethat I've just thought of it!" And then she stopped to look at thebaby's present.
"It can't be that the Judge's mantle would go into such a littlepackage as that." So Ruth remarked as she took the tiny thing in hand.It was tied with the most brilliant sunset that eyes ever saw. Thestreamers attached to the bow were much bigger than the package itself.When Ruth undid it, and held the singular object before her eyes, itseemed to grow large and long. It was truly the Judge's mantle. As sheshook it out, and let its folds drop down to the floor, the picturesfairly beamed with glory. "Silver threads among the gold," exclaimed thechild, as the beauteous garment flashed its splendors into her eyes. Forthe warp was the pure gold of character, while the woof was the finesilver of influence. And they were woven into a fabric of surpassingrichness. Then this matchless weaving was covered with fairestembroidery. Every color that imagination ever conceived appeared uponthe garment. There was the white light of truth, the red of sacrifice,the purple of royalty, the greens of fresh life, the pink of propriety,the red that you see in a green blackberry, the blue of a minister'sMonday, and true blue, auburn from a child's head, hazel from a child'seyes, black as thunder cloud, pale as death, the lemon of lemon ice,orange from orangeade, and a great many others. And these colors wereworked into words, flowers of rhetoric, scenes indeed, pictures of love,kindness, wisdom, and peace. It was also adorned with quite a number ofgems of poetry, and it had a pearl of great price to fasten it at thethroat.
The first thing which Ruth did was to try it on, but it dragged on thefloor. It occurred to her that the baby must wait until he was grown upbefore it fitted him. Still, she tried it on the baby. No sooner did shewrap it around him than it seemed to shrink to his size.
"Why, we can use it for a winter coat," she said. And the "LittleJudge," who had fallen asleep before the fire, where he had crawled withTurk and the cat, cooed and laughed when the mantle was wrapped abouthim, seeming to feel that it was the very thing that would make himhappy and comfortable. All the time that Ruth was handling the magicthing, it continued to throw off little points of light and countlessmites of color, and these settled down on the furniture and carpet andthe curtains and the walls and the ceiling, until the room was like apalace studded with twinkling, shifting, radiant stars; and everypresent on the piano was shining and scattering light, the air beingfilled with music, and Ruth was wild with delight and excitement.
The next thing was to carry the gifts to the stockings where theybelonged. Wherever she went, there was the brightness of noonday, so shenever had a fear. Even the closet with the skeleton in it did not makeher tremble. Beginning with father and mother, she visited everystocking, and put each gift in its proper place; then she carried thebaby to bed, and left Turk and Satan snuggled up together in front ofthe fire; and then it seemed to her that she floated away in a sea oflight; and then mounting upon the wings of the wind, she suddenly metthe sand man who pushed her into the Land of Nod.
The last that she remembered was blue sky, gems of poetry, rainbows,shooting stars, flowers of rhetoric, strains of music, sunsets, closets,stockings, Christmas cheer, sunshine, and a great many other things, allstanding around the type-writer in her father's study, telling themachine what to say, and begging that everything might be set down in abook and live forever.
E.
HAPPY DAY.
E.
HAPPY DAY.
NOW, when it grew toward morning Ruth awakened first, and what did shedo but jump out of bed and feel of her stocking; the thing which shefound was a book, and she knew without looking into it that the booktold all about the Judge and the pictures, the house and the children,and the strange things that had happened on this eventful night.
Later there was the sound of many voices, scores of "I wish you a merryChristmas," went flying through the air, carols b
urst upon the ear, anda whole host of happy, loving children shifted from one room to another,and finally gathered beneath the pictures of the Judge and his lady. Didthe good man lift his hands in benediction? Did he beam with the joy ofthe Christ-life? The light was rather dim in the parlor, for it wasearly in the morning. But the children were constantly turning theireyes to the portraits. It seemed to them that new life throbbed withintheir souls, that grand purposes had been awakened, that charity andtenderness, the love of God and the love of one another, were moving toall kinds of well-doing. They felt as never before that they were livingin the home of this great, good man, and that they must go forth intothe world as his manly and womanly representatives. Peace not onlyfilled the house, but it rested upon them. It was the most joyful day ofall the years. Never a quarrel darkened a heart. Never a harsh word fellfrom any lips. Never a mean thought rose in their breasts. It was realChristmas cheer. And I believe that every child of them was made richerby the blessed presence (presents) of the Judge and his lady.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Repeated chapter titles were retained as some were laid out differentlythan at the chapter itself.
Page 58, "Clause" changed to "Claus" (as Santa Claus)
Page 71, "to" changed to "too" (think so too)
Page 88, "bookcase" changed to "book-case" to match rest of usage intext (a low book-case beneath)
Page 95, extraneous quotation mark removed before (I'll call 'Greece')
Page 109, "surpressed" changed to "suppressed" (with suppressedexcitement)
Page 145, "everthing" changed to "everything" (everything under the sun)
Page 152, single closing quotation mark changed to double (and usethem?")
Page 192, closing quotation mark added (it means.")
Page 201, closing quotation mark added (is!" As she said this)
The House With Sixty Closets: A Christmas Story for Young Folks and Old Children Page 18
