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Page 35
Every year, a little before Christmas, her shoes had been placed in the
garden for Rupert, who is one of Santa Claus's German helpers, to fill,
and every year she had found a Christmas tree lighted for her on
Christmas Day. She wondered a little, as she came across the ocean, how
she would keep Christmas in the new country; and she wondered still
more, when they reached a great city, and had their "boxes" carried up
so many stairs to a little room in a boarding-house.
Gretchen's mother did not like boarding-houses--no, indeed!--and their
first thought was to find a place where they might feel at home; but the
very next morning after their long journey the dear father was too ill
to lift his head from the pillow, and Gretchen and her mother were very
sad for many days. Up so high in a boarding-house is not pleasant (even
if you do seem nearer the stars) when somebody you love is sick; and
then, too, Gretchen began to think that Santa Claus and Rupert had
forgotten her; for when she set her two little wooden shoes outside the
door, they were never filled with goodies, and people stumbled over them
and scolded.
The tears would roll down Gretchen's fat, rosy cheeks, and fall into the
empty shoes, and she decided that the people in America did not keep
Christmas, and wished she was in her own Germany again. One day,
however, a good woman in the house felt sorry for the lonely little
German girl, who could speak no English, and she asked Gretchen's
mother if Gretchen might go with her to see the beautiful stores. She
was only a poor woman, and had no presents to give away; but she knew
how to be kind to Gretchen, and she took her hand and smiled at her very
often as they hurried along the crowded street.
It was the day before Christmas, and throngs of people were moving here
and there, and Gretchen was soon bewildered, and she was jostled and
pushed until she was tired; but at last they stepped into a store which
made her blue eyes open wide, for it was a toy store, and the most
beautiful place she had ever seen. There were toys in that store that
had come across the sea like Gretchen; there were lovely dolls from
France, who were spending their first Christmas away from home; there
were woolly sheep, fine painted soldiers, and dainty furniture, and a
whole host of wonderful toys marked very carefully, "Made in Germany";
and even the Japanese, from their island in the great ocean, had sent
their funny slant-eyed dolls to help us keep Christmas.
Oh! it was splendid to be in the toyshop the day before Christmas! All
the tin soldiers stood up so straight and tall, looking as if they were
just ready to march when the big drums and the little drums, which hung
over their heads, should call them.
The rocking horses, which are always saddled, were waiting to gallop
away. The tops were anxious to spin, and the balls really rolled about
sometimes, because it was so hard for them to keep still.
The fine lady dolls were dressed in their best. One of them was a
princess, and wore a white satin dress, and had a crown on her head. She
sat on a throne in one of the windows, with all the other dolls around
her; and it was in this very window that Gretchen saw a baby doll, which
made her forget all the rest. It was a real baby doll, not nearly so
fine as most of the others, but with a look on its face as if it wanted
to be loved; and Gretchen's warm German heart went out to it, for
little mothers are the same all the world over.
Such a dear baby doll! She must have been made for a Christmas gift,
Gretchen thought; and if the good giver came to this queer American
land, he surely would find her. How could she let him know where she
was? She thought about it all the way home, and all day long, till the
gas was lighted down in the great city and the stars were lighted up
above, and the time of his coming drew very near.
The father was better; but the mother had said with tears in her eyes,
that there could be no Christmas tree for them that year. So Gretchen
did not worry them, but she wrapped herself up in a blanket and shawl,
and, taking her shoes in her hand, she crept down the stairs, through
the door, out to the wooden stoop. There had been a light fall of snow
that day, but it was a mild Christmas, and Gretchen set her shoes evenly
together, and then sat down beside them; for she had made up her mind to
watch them until Santa Claus came by.
All over the city the bells were ringing,--calling "Merry Christmas" to
each other and to the world; and they sang so sweetly to little Gretchen
that they sang her to sleep that Christmas Eve.
It was hundreds and hundreds of years since the Christ Child slept in
the manger; but this same night in the great city a little American girl
named Margaret had her heart so full of His love and joy that she wanted
to make everybody happy for the dear Christ's sake.
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