LITTLE FOLKS’ CHRISTMAS
STORIES AND PLAYS
Little Folks’ Christmas
Stories and Plays
Edited by
Ada M. Skinner
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK
{iv}
Copyright, 1915,
By Rand McNally & Company
The Rand-McNally Press
Chicago
CHRISTMAS TIME
“I have always thought of Christmas time ... as a good time; a kind,forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time ... when men andwomen seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely ...; and Isay, God bless it!”
Charles Dickens
A FOREWORD
The selections in Little Folks’ Christmas Stories and Plays emphasizethe joy expressed by “good will toward men” and the abundant lifesuggested by “peace on earth.” Some of the stories and legends willappeal to the child’s interest because they are filled with the spiritof fun and jollity which is always associated with Christmasmerrymaking; other selections affirm the spiritual blessings which thebirth of the Christ Child brought to the children of men.
The young reader’s enjoyment is enhanced and his interest quickened ifhe can begin to read his book without the aid of an interpreter.Therefore the stories and poems in this volume are arranged in twogroups: Part I includes those selections which are simple enough intheme and form to be read by the child; Part II is made up of morecomplex stories and poems, which the story-teller may read aloud orrelate to the young listener.
My thanks are due to the following authors and publishers who haveallowed reprints from their works: Maud Lindsay for permission to use“The Promise”; Richard Thomas Wyche for “A Boy’s Visit to Santa Claus”;Ruth Sawyer for “The Christmas Kings”; Mrs. Richard Watson Gilder forpermission to use the poem, “The Christmas Tree in the Nursery,” byRichard Watson Gilder; Mary Stewart for “The Finding of the Treasure”;Raymond MacDonald Alden for “In the Great Walled Country”; Edmund VanceCooke for “Going to Meet Santa Claus”{viii}; Alma J. Foster for hertranslation of “Cosette” by Victor Hugo; L. Frank Baum and TheDelineator for “Kidnaping Santa Claus”; Emma A. Schaub for hertranslation of “Christmasland” by Heinrich Seidel; Margaret Deland andMoffat Yard & Company, publishers, for permission to use the poem,“While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night”; Milton Bradley Companyfor “The Christmas Cake” from Mother Stories by Maud Lindsay; A.Flanagan Company for the selection, “The Stars and the Child,” fromChild’s Christ Tales by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot; the Pilgrim Press for“The Visit of the Wishing Man,” from The City that Never was Reachedby J. T. Stocking; The Macmillan Company for a selection from SerapionBrethren by E. Th. Hoffmann; Dr. Washin