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Page 76
_Mr. B._ [_vexed_]. Don't speak of them again. They're not coming, and
I don't want them. Why _will_ every one keep talking about them?
[_Enter_ PATRICK.]
_Mrs. B._ [_aside to Lucy_]. Mr. Remsen and your father have quarreled
about a piece of land; so the Remsens are not to come this year.
_Mr. B_. Well, Patrick, what is it?
_Patrick_. Shure, the horse is ready, sir.
_Mr. B_. Horse ready? What for?
_Patrick_. To be goin' for the Rimsins, shure!
_Mr. B._ [_angrily_]. We are not going for the Remsens! What do you
mean by acting without orders? Take the horse out at once!
_Patrick_. Widout orthers, is it? An' it's mesilf, thin, that hitched
up the crather every Christmas Ave I've lived wid yous for to go for
them same.
_Mr. B_. Don't answer, sir; do as I bid you.
_Patrick_ [_aside_]. It's plain the masther's rin his nose forninst
something harrud. [_Exit._]
_Mrs. B._ [_going to Mr. B. and putting her arm about him, he
sitting_]. Dear John, send for the Remsens, please. See how everything
conspires to ask it of you, from the prattle of the children to old
Patrick himself. It is Christmas Eve, dear! How can we teach the dear
chicks to be kind to each other unless we set the example? Send for our
old friends, John. They've been with us every Christmas Eve these many
years. You'll settle your affair with Mr. Remsen all the better,
afterward.
_Mr. B_. Why, Mary, would you have me crawl at the feet of a man who
tries to overreach me?
_Mrs. B_. No, John! But stand on your own feet, and say: "Come,
neighbor, let us do something better and wiser than hate each other."
_Mr. B_. I'll not do it. He has--
_Lucy_. Hark! What's that?
[_Music outside--the sound of a harp, or of a concealed piano played
very softly. Then, to its accompaniment, is sung the following carol:_]
"Be merry all, be merry all!
With holly dress the festive hall,
Prepare the song, the feast, the ball,
To welcome Merry Christmas.
"And, oh! remember, gentles gay,
To you who bask in fortune's ray
The year is all a holiday:--
The poor have only Christmas.
"When you the costly banquet deal
To guests who never famine feel,
Oh spare one morsel from your meal
To cheer the poor at Christmas.
"So shall each note of mirth appear
More sweet to heaven than praise or prayer,
And angels, in their carols there,
Shall bless the poor at Christmas."
_Lucy_. Oh, what a beautiful carol! I'll call in the minstrel.
_Mrs. B_. Yes, run Lucy! [_Exit_ LUCY.]
_Mr. B_. Set a chair by the fire, Tommy.
[_Enter_ LUCY, _with old minstrel carrying harp_.]
_Minstrel_. Good even, gentle folks, and a merry Christmas to you all!
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