A LITTLE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS
[Illustration: "What are you doing?" he asked, drawing near. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 69.]
A LITTLE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS
BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR E. BECHER
BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1912
_Copyright, 1912_, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
_All rights reserved_
Published, September, 1912
THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE CONVERSION OF HETHERINGTON 5
THE CHILD WHO HAD EVERYTHING BUT-- 47
SANTA CLAUS AND LITTLE BILLEE 87
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN SANTAS 129
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"What are you doing?" he asked, drawing near _Frontispiece_
She stood with her eyes popping out of her head PAGE 39
He thought it very strange that Santa Claus' hand should be so red and cold and rough 91
One by one the prisoners of the night dropped in surreptitiously 155
A TOAST TO SANTA CLAUS
Whene'er I find a man who don't Believe in Santa Claus, And spite of all remonstrance won't Yield up to logic's laws, And see in things that lie about The proof by no means dim, I straightway cut that fellow out, And don't believe in him.
The good old Saint is everywhere Along life's busy way. We find him in the very air We breathe day after day-- Where courtesy and kindliness And love are joined together, To give to sorrow and distress A touch of sunny weather.
We find him in the maiden's eyes Beneath the mistletoe, A-sparkling as the star-lit skies All golden in their glow. We find him in the pressure of The hand of sympathy, And where there's any thought of love He's mighty sure to be.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Little Book of Christmas by John Kendrick Bangs
- 2: Said Hetherington with a sneer
- 3: As he turned to his work with the tambourine
- 4: Sergeant bristled Hetherington
- 5: Muttered Hetherington to himself
- 6: Hetherington ran over it rapidly
- 7: Said Hetherington as he alighted
- 8: Handing Hetherington a package tied up in blue ribbons
- 9: You believed in old Santa Claus
- 10: But I don't care for pyrotechnics
- 11: Your wife possesses a hooded mackintosh
- 12: You have gone on slumming parties
- 13: And finally passed into a superbly lighted salon
- 14: There won't be any drafts this time
- 15: I loaded both cannon to the muzzle with dried pease
- 16: And his daddy What's a daddy
- 17: Little Billee began to grow tired
- 18: Suggested Little Billee hopefully
- 19: Santa Claus laughed as he spoke
- 20: Said Little Billee indignantly
- 21: I guess we can find our way home with Little Billee
- 22: Retorted Santa Claus indignantly
- 23: ' Little Billee roared with laughter
- 24: Said Little Billee rather vaguely
- 25: Said the old doorman sympathetically
- 26: As all old bachelors are apt to be
- 27: Talk about your bundle trust Gran had the market cornered
- 28: With a nice fuzzy blanket to thaw out his icy little legs
- 29: With a pleasing variety of stops
- 30: Dobby here has already fitted him out with a complete army
- 31: Diss ain't like my reg'lar lodgin' house
- 32: To be confronted upon investigation by a prostrate enemy
- 33: Ricketts rose up from the lounge