The
ROMANCE
of a
CHRISTMAS
CARD
BY
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN
ILLUSTRATED BYALICE ERCLE HUNT
BOSTON and NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1916
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY THE BUTTERICK PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY KATE DOUGLAS RIGGS
The Romance of a Christmas Card
I
It was Christmas Eve and a Saturday night when Mrs. Larrabee, theBeulah minister's wife, opened the door of the study where her husbandwas deep in the revision of his next day's sermon, and thrust in hercomely head framed in a knitted rigolette.[2]
"Luther, I'm going to run down to Letty's. We think the twins aregoing to have measles; it's the only thing they haven't had, andLetty's spirits are not up to concert pitch. You look like a blessedold prophet to-night, my dear! What's the text?"
The minister pushed back his spectacles and ruffled his gray hair.
"Isaiah VI, 8: 'And I heard the voice of the Lord, sayingwhom shall I send?... Then said I, Here am I, send me!'"
"It doesn't sound a bit like Christmas, somehow."
"It has the spirit, if it hasn't the sound," said the minister. "Thereis always so little spare money in the village that we get less andless accustomed to sharing what we have with others. I want to remindthe people that there are[3] different ways of giving, and that thebestowing of one's self in service and good deeds can be the best ofall gifts. Letty Boynton won't need the sermon!—Don't be late, Reba."
"Of course not. When was I ever late? It has just struck seven andI'll be back by eight to choose the hymns. And oh! Luther, I have somefresh ideas for Christmas cards and I am going to try my luck withthem in the marts of trade. There are hundreds of thousands of suchthings sold nowadays; and if the 'Boston Banner' likes my verses wellenough to send me the paper regularly, why shouldn't the people whomake cards like them too, especially when I can draw and paint my ownpictures?"
"I've no doubt they'll like them; who wouldn't? If the parish knewwhat a[4] ready pen you ha