Treasures from fairy land

Front matter

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Contents

VOL. I.

Christmas Morning: A War Story, .

Under Land and Sea : A Story of Adventure, .

I. The Bernards

T was just before Christmas, and Father Bernard had made ready his little shop for a lively holiday trade. The great boxes of goods packed in straw had been brought up from the base¬ ment, and their pretty contents were now attractively displayed on the shelves and counter. Old Bernard was a Swiss ; and in his youth he lived in the val¬ leys where all the people, old and young, skilfully manufacture dainty carvings and playthings for the world. When a child, he used to be so busy making toys for the children of other countries, that he had very little opportunity to play himself ; but he enter¬ tained himself with thinking how much pleasure some one far away would derive from the work of his

Hoyty- Toyty.

hands. When he packed a pretty doll or a nut-cracker, or a troop of magnificent wooden soldiers, to send them away to the city, he would imagine a group of hap¬ py children, dressing and undressing their dolls, or crack¬ ing nuts by the fire, or having great battles on the parlor floor. Now that he was old, he knew very well what pleased the young folks best ; and all the folks liked to go to Bernard’s store, because they always found there just what they wanted.

Little Marie was at home for the vacation, to cheer her grandfather with her presence, and to help him wait on the crowds of customers. * It was hard to say which was pleasanter — to buy of the old man, whose white hair and kindly look made him seem like Christmas himself, or of Marie, with her brown locks so neatly braided, and her clear gray eyes, and her sweet smile, that would have excused mis¬ takes in giving change — if she had ever made any. But she did not make mistakes, except that some¬ times a little boy or girl got a penny. too much. On such occasions Marie would call out to her grand¬ father, “ One ! ” And the old man would smile, and put a penny from his pocket into the till, so as to make the account even. How happy they would be this year, if Brother Karl were only with them ! But Karl was at sea, and no one knew when he would return. He and Marie were all the relatives left to Father Bernard in this world.

II. The Stove-pipe Hole

Marie and her grandfather lived over the store, in two little back rooms. In the floor of her room there was an old stove-pipe hole. Once a workman was putting a pane of glass in her window, and, stepping back to admire his work, thrust his foot and leg through the floor, smashing a beautiful paper kite that was suspended from the ceiling below, and 'astonishing all the customers. So, after that, the hole was closed with a tin lid, to prevent accidents ; but Marie used to take off the lid every night, just before going to bed, in order to hear if all was quiet in the store. Now, on this parti¬ cular night of which I speak, she was waked up by an odd confusion of noises, coming up through the stove-pipe hole — a chattering and scolding, and tit¬ tering and piping, and barking and squealing, and whinnying and drumming, and bubbling and rolling, and thumping and rattling, and scraping and hissing, with other kinds of racket too numerous to mention. At first she thought it was thieves; but she remem¬ bered that thieves would not make a noise if they could help it ; and, as the hubbub continued, she crept out of bed, .and lay down on the floor, with her face over the stove-pipe hole. In this way she

THE STOVE-PIPE HOLE.

“Marie lay down on the floor , with her face over the stove-pipe hole . In this way she could get a good view of the whole store.” — Page 81.

could get a good view of the* whole store. To her surprise, it was brilliantly lighted ; but when she looked more closely, she saw that the gas was not burning. Wonderful to relate, six dozen little can¬ dles for Christmas-trees, which she had laid on a shelf that very day, had hopped down and somehow lit themselves, and there they . stood in a shining row, all round the store, looking very handsome, with their taper waists and their waxen complexions.

But that was not so wonderful as the rest that she saw ; for everything in the store had waked up, and was exhibiting its gifts and graces. All the dolls were active. Those that had joints were prac¬ tising calisthenics on the top of the show-case ; the gutta-percha dolls were tumbling on the floor, to show that they could not be broken like other

dolls ; a whole line of fashionable ladies, with water¬ falls, were solemnly opening and shutting their eyes with a little click ; three or four who knew how to cry were practising in different keys ; and a vast multitude of stiff, cheap little things were standing on their heads, because that was all they could do. There were two shelves filled with dolls’ heads, that

looked like the cherubs in pictures ; and these could

only gaze placidly at the general fun, for their

bodies were all packed away in the cellar.

The great Noah’s ark had opened by the roof, just as all Noah’s arks do, and Noah and his wife, and his sons and their wives, followed by elephants, camels, and roosters, two and two, were walking in grand procession, like a young ladies’ boarding-

school, along the counter. A backgammon-board was the scene of a great quarrel ; the white men

were accused by the black men of cheating, and

taking people up by main force when they were

not exposed ; and the dice were all throwing double

sixes as loud as ever they could, to show that they understood the matter. Two swords were fighting in a corner — a tin sword and an iron one. The tin sword was getting the worst of it, and it was high time for the seconds to interfere ; but the drumsticks, who were to act as seconds, had got up a scrim¬ mage of their own on the top of the drum, where they were rolling over and over in a rough-andtumble way, now one and now the other being uppermost. A woolly dog on wheels went trundling around, and barking whenever anybody stepped on him. A dancing-jack hung mournfully on a nail, with his head, arms, and legs drooping. Poor fellow l he wanted very much to dance, but he couldn’t untie his neck, and everybody was too busy to come and pull the string that made his limbs go. The books did not join in the general row-de-row. They were too refined and aristocratic, and said to themselves: ‘‘We titled people, that have pages, must not mix with the vulgar rabble.” And down under the counter a boxful of valentines were sound asleep. Nobody noticed them ; they were of no account till February. Perhaps the most comical sight of all was a little india-rubber dwarf, who had undertaken to waddle across the store, and got caught under the rocker of a huge, prancing hobby¬ horse. The expression of the dwarf’s countenance, when the hobby-horse flattened it, was so changed that his own mother in India wouldn’t have known him. Marie almost laughed outright when her eye fell on him ; but she restrained herself, for fear of betraying her- presence, and continued to look and listen with all her might.

» Now it happened that Karl, before he went to sea, used to play in a band ; and his trombone, kept bright and clean by loving hands, always hung, in memory of him, over Father Bernard’s desk. In the midst of the uproar the trombone spoke out, so gruffly and loud that everything stopped to hear. “You silly greenhorns,” said the trombone, “what do you know about life? You have only just come out of the dark, and the straw is sticking to you yet. Look at me ; I have seen the world ! It is full of operas, and target excursions, and concerts with trombone solos. Life is a great thing, and if you want to talk sensibly about it, just wait till you have had some sense blown into you. Come back here a week after New-Year’s, and compare notes ! ” At this rude speech, some of the tin trumpets squeaked to one another, “ What brazen impertinence ! ” but the trombone’s remarks produced on the whole a profound impression, especially as his ponderous breath blew out all the candles. There was considerable bustle occasioned by the different articles trying to return in the dark to their old places ; but silence soon prevailed ; and Marie was glad to get back to her warm bed.

Next morning the store looked exactly as usual, except that there were little spots of wax everywhere, and the india-rubber dwarf had not quite recovered his usual elasticity of temperament. If it had not been for these signs, Marie would have thought she had been dreaming merely ; but now she was sure that everything had really happened ; and she looked forward with great interest to know whether the suggestions of the trombone would be acted upon, and the toys would return after the holidays to compare notes and relate their experience of life.

III. Ho W The To Ys Went

ALMOST as soon as the store was open, a richly dressed lady came in, leading a little boy. She showed him everything, and tried to find out what he would like best. But the little boy was sulky and ill-natured, and said he was tired of such things; he had had so many, and they always went and broke themselves; he hated books, and wanted a real pistol that would shoot ; and if he couldn’t have a pistol he would smash a looking-glass when he got home. Finally, to pacify him, the lady bought a number of candy dogs and other animals, one of which he put in his mouth, and so forgot the pistol and allowed himself to be taken home. A few hours after, the lady came back alone, and to Marie’s surprise, bought the big rocking-horse, a sled, a drum, a sword, a Noah’s ark, and the bark¬ ing woolly dog. She even looked up at the trom¬ bone ; but Father Bernard said, hastily, “ That is not for sale, madam,” so she contented herself with one of the tin trumpets. “ I thought your little boy did not like any of these things,” said Marie, as she tied up the packages, to be sent by the ex¬ press-wagon to the lady’s house in Fifth Avenue. “ O, that is only his way ; he will be very angry if he does not get them.” Marie could not help won¬ dering what kind of a home it could be that was so splendid and yet made people so discontented. “These playthings will have something interesting to tell,” thought she, “when they come back after New-Year’s.” But she did not expect • the candy dogs to return ; for, between you and me, animals of that class are not well fitted to explore life. They are sweet-tempered, but not firm ; and after they start on their travels, they are never heard of again. Unlike other dogs, if they once get bitten, that is the end of them. Only one breed of them ever bites back ; and that contains pepper, and is not popular.

By and by a gentleman came and looked about, quite bewildered, among the toys. He was in a great hurry ; and said, half to himself : “ The child must have something. Christmas is such a nuisance ! I suppose a doll will be the correct thing.” With that he bought the largest and most expensive doll in the whole collection — a stuck-up, waxy, French thing, with blonde hair and movable eyes, and an arrangement for crying under its corsets, and no end of flounces and furbelows. Then he went off mut¬ tering, “ There, that's done ! ”

It quite saddened Marie to have people buying presents for their children in such a’ spirit ; but she smiled brightly again as a quiet boy of about twelve years came in. “ If you please,” said he, “ I should like to look at some broken toys that you could sell cheap. My little brother is a cripple, and lies in bed all day ; and he thinks so much of toys. I thought perhaps I could mend up some old ones for him.” “ Why don’t your father buy something for the child ? ” said old Bernard, turning his back upon the boy, and rummaging busily in a pile of pasteboard boxes. The. lad’s eyes filled with tears as he said slowly : “ Father and mother are both dead; and I take care of Jamie.” “ H’m ! ” said the old man, turning around, with a small flat pack¬ age in his hand, “ I thought as much ! I’ve heard of you. We don’t break things here and then sell them cheap to such fellows as you ! ” O, how hard the grandfather tried to look stern and severe ! but it was of no use. He couldn’t deceive Marie, nor prevent a smile and a tear on his own face ; so he gave up trying, and added, in a very different tone: “God bless you, my boy! Take these to Jamie, with an old man’s love.” And what do you think? it was a box of paints! I could not possibly tell you how grateful the cripple’s brother was. He

tried to tell, but he could not say anything; so

why should I undertake it ? But, after all, he did not seem to be perfectly satisfied ; and presently he murmured, “I wish they had some broken toys!” Marie heard him and understood him at once ; so she said, “You wanted to give Jamie something your own self didn’t you ? ” “ O yes,” said he,

“ this is just what he will like best, but it is not

my work, nor my present. Besides, there are a great many poor children in our street ; and Jamie and I were going to give them a Christmas party. You see ” — and by this time he had got back his courage and his tongue — “ we have got a tree ; and Jamie has made ever so many dolls out of paper; and the peanut-man is coming with a whole quart of peanuts ; and I wanted to help too. I’ve got a knife and some glue, and I know how to mend things beautifully. Jamie says so. If we only had some broken toys, I could mend them and he could paint them, and we could hang them on the tree, just as, once before, a long time ago, father and mother — ”

“ Look here, Marie,” called Father Bernard, “ these wax tapers have all been half burned ! No¬ body will buy them now. How unfortunate ! I really think we must throw them away, unless this young gentleman will consent to stick them on his Christmas-tree ! And, by the way, there's that lady in. Fifth Avenue says all the things she bought last year are spoilt and broken, and heaped up in the garret. She’ll give them to any boy that will carry them away. So there’s a chance for you, my boy ! ”

Marie had just time to give the happy boy the box of tapers and the lady’s address, when new customers arrived, in the persons of a pleasant couple, who were evidently husband and wife, and who, as one might see from the happy mixture of love and care in their faces, had a troop of little ones at home. They spent a good while looking at various things, and asking their prices. The work of selection was evidently a matter of importance to them, and they took great pleasure as well as pains with it. At last the wife said : “ My dear, every¬ thing is so expensive this year ; don’t you think we had better get something that will entertain us all ? That we can afford to have of the best kind.” The husband looked admiringly at her for this sen¬ sible suggestion, which, he said, was “just like her”; and finally they selected the backgammon-board, together with a box of ninepins for the younger children and the baby. “ Though, after alt,” laughed the good man, “ I don’t know but I shall want to play ninepins a good deal myself.” Marie offered to send ’the 'bundles home, but they said no; it was much pleasanter to carry one’s own packages at Christmas-time. Having paid for their purchases, they still lingered, each making innocent excuses to detain the other, and both quite willing to be de¬ tained. Presently the husband sauntered to the back part of the store, and, gleefully chuckling to find that his wife did not follow, hurriedly bought of Marie a beautiful work-box, upon which he had already cast many a glance. At the very same mo¬ ment the wife, in the slyest possible manner, pur¬ chased of Father Bernard a writing-desk. If you had stood just half-way down the store, between the two, you would have heard on either side a whisper, “ I guess you can send that home ; it is almost too heavy to carry.” And then you would have seen the affectionate couple depart, with happy secrets weighing on their hearts, saying to one an¬ other, “ The 'children will be so well pleased, and we shall enjoy their presents so much, that we shall not mind going without, ourselves — hey?”

After this, a great, fat, rich, jolly old bachelor came in, and was greeted as a well-known friend by the grandfather. “ Look here, Bernard,” said he, “ believe your shop will be the ruin of me ! Can’t get by your- windows to save my life. Never saw such windows ! Everybody stops to look at ’em ; and they are flattening the noses of all the children in town. Pretty lot of snubs the next generation will have, at this rate ! Well, well ! here’s my mis¬ sionary fund ; smaller than usual, this year ; hard times — never should know it, though, if I wasn’t told ; you know what to do with it ; give a thing¬ amy, to every little heathen that comes along!” He laid a twenty-dollar note on the counter, winked merrily at Marie, and went across the street to the poultry-shop.

But I cannot stop to describe all the people that came to buy. There were crowds of them, and Bernard did a very handsome business. By New-Year’s the shelves were half empty, the rush had ceased, and the old man and his granddaughter were glad to rest.

or, the Ways of the World.