WM. H. CRANE as DAVID HARUM
WM. H. CRANE EDITION
THE
CHRISTMAS STORY FROM
DAVID HARUM
By
Edward Noyes Westcott
ILLUSTRATED FROM MR. CHARLES FROHMAN'S
PRODUCTION OF DAVID HARUM.
A COMEDY DRAMATIZED FROM THE NOVEL
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1900
Copyright, 1898, 1900,
By D. Appleton and Company.
All rights reserved.
PREFACE
ave done the thing his ownway," said Aunt Polly to theWidow Cullom. "Kind o'fetched it round fer a merry Chris'mus,didn't he?"
This is the story which is reprinted herefrom Mr. Westcott's famous book. It wasDavid Harum's nature to do things in his ownway, and the quaintness of his methods inraising the Widow Cullom from the depths ofdespair to the heights of happiness frame astory which is read between laughter andtears, and always with a quickening of affectionfor the great-hearted benefactor. DavidHarum's absolute originality, his unexpectedness,the dryness of his humor, the shrewdnessof his insight, and the kindliness andgenerosity beneath the surface, have madehim a permanent figure in literature. Moreover,the individual quality of David Harumis so distinctively American that he has beenrecognized as the typical American, typical ofan older generation, perhaps, in mere externals,but nevertheless an embodiment of characteristicsessentially national. While only Mr.Westcott's complete book can fully illustratethe personality of David Harum, yet it isequally true that no other episode in the bookpresents the tenderness and quaintness, andthe full quality of David Harum's character,with the richness and pathos of the storywhich tells how he paid the "int'rist" uponthe "cap'tal" invested by Billy P. Fortunatelythis story lends itself readily to separatepublication, and it forms an American"Christmas Carol" which stands by itself, anAmerican counterpart of the familiar tale ofDickens, and imbued with a simplicity,humor, and unstudied pathos peculiarly itsown.
The difference between the written andthe acted tale is illustrated in the use madeof the Christmas story in the play. In thebook David tells John Lenox the story of the