diff options
Diffstat (limited to '27612.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 27612.txt | 1180 |
1 files changed, 1180 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/27612.txt b/27612.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d20315 --- /dev/null +++ b/27612.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1180 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christmas Eve at Swamp's End, by Norman Duncan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christmas Eve at Swamp's End + +Author: Norman Duncan + +Release Date: December 25, 2008 [EBook #27612] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS EVE AT SWAMP'S END *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully +preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + + + + CHRISTMAS + EVE + at + SWAMP'S + END + + + NORMAN DUNCAN + +[Illustration: "Make of this child, a Man"] + + + + + CHRISTMAS EVE + + at SWAMP'S END + + + NORMAN DUNCAN + author of + + THE MEASURE OF A MAN + DOCTOR LUKE OF THE + LABRADOR ETC + + + [Illustration] + + + FLEMING H REVELL COMPANY + + Copyright, 1911-1915 + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + + + [Illustration] + + + _A Selection from + THE MEASURE OF A MAN + A Tale of the Big Woods_ + +[Illustration] + + + + +_THE WISTFUL HEART_ + + +It was long after noon in the far, big, white Northwest. Day was on the +wing. Christmas Eve splendidly impended--thank God for unspoiled +childish faith and joys of children everywhere! Christmas Eve was fairly +within view and welcoming hail, at last, in the thickening eastern +shadows. Long Day at its close. Day in a perturbation of blessed +unselfishness. Day with its tasks of love not half accomplished. And Day +near done! Bedtime coming round the world on the jump. Nine o'clock +leaping from longitude to longitude. Night, impatient and determined, +chasing all the children of the world in drowsy expectation to +sleep--making a clean sweep of 'em, every one, with her soft, wide broom +of dusk. "Nine o'clock? Shoo! Off you go! To-morrow's on the way. +Soon--oh, soon! To-morrow's here when you fall asleep. Said 'em already, +have you? Not another word from either of you. Not a whisper, ye +grinning rascals! Cuddle down, little people of Christ's heart and +leading. Snuggle close--closer yet, my children--that your arms may grow +used to this loving. Another kiss from mother? Blessed Ones! A billion +more, for nights and mornings, for all day long of all the years, +waiting here on mother's lips. And now to sleep. Christmas _is_ +to-morrow. Hush! To-morrow. Yes; to-morrow. Go t' sleep! Go t' sleep!" +And upon the flying heels of Night--but still far over seas from the +blustering white Northwest where Pattie Batch was waiting at Swamp's End +in the woods--the new Day, with jolly countenance, broad, rosy and +delighted, was somewhere approaching, in a gale of childish laughter, +blithely calling in its westward sweep to all Christian children to +awaken to their peculiar and eternal joy. + + * * * * * + +It was Christmas weather in the big woods: a Christmas temperature like +frozen steel--thirty below in the clearing of Swamp's End--and a +rollicking wind, careering over the pines, and the swirling dust of snow +in the metallic air. A cold, crisp crackling world! A Christmas land, +too: a vast expanse of Christmas colour, from the Canadian line to the +Big River--great, grave, green pines, white earth and a blood-red +sunset! The low log-cabins of the lumber camps were smothered in snow; +they were fringed with pendant ice at the eaves, and banked high with +drifts, and all window-frosted. The trails were thigh deep and drifting. +The pines--their great fall imminent, now--flaunted long, black arms in +the gale; they creaked, they swished, they droned, they crackled with +frost. It was coming on dusk. The deeper reaches of the forest were +already dark. Horses and teamsters, sawyers, road-monkeys, axemen, +swampers, punk-hunters and all, floundered from the bush, white with dry +snow, icicled and frosted like a Christmas cake, to the roaring +bunk-house fires, to a voracious employment at the cooks' long tables, +and to an expanding festival jollity. Town? Sure! Swamp's End for +Christmas--the lights and companionship of the bedraggled shanty +lumber-town in the clearing of Swamp's End! Swamp's End for Gingerbread +Jenkins! Swamp's End for Billy the Beast! Swamp's End--and the roaring +hilarity thereof--for man and boy, straw-boss and cookee, of the +lumber-jacks! Presently the dim trails from the Cant-hook cutting, from +the Bottle River camps, from Snook's landing and the Yellow Tail works, +poured the boys into town--a lusty, hilarious crew, like loosed +school-boys on a lark, giving over, now, to the only distractions, it +seemed--and John Fairmeadow maintained it--which the great world +provided in the forests. + +Pattie Batch might have been aware of this--the log shack was on the +edge of town--had not the window-panes been coated thick with Christmas +frost. She might have heard rough laughter passing by--the Bottle River +trail ran right past the door--had not the big Christmas wind snored in +the stove, and fearsomely rattled the door, and shaken the cabin, and +swept howling on. But she never in the world would have attended. Not in +that emergency! She would not, for anything, have peeped out of the +windows, in perfectly proper curiosity, to watch the Bottle River jacks +flounder into town. Not she! Pattie Batch was busy. Pattie Batch was so +desperately employed that her swift little fingers demanded all the +attention that the most alert, the brightest, the very most bewitching +gray eyes in the whole wide world could bestow upon anything whatsoever. +Christmas Eve, you see: Day done. Something of soft fawn-skin engaged +her, it seemed, with white patches matched and arranged with marvellous +exactitude: something made for warmth in the wind--something of small +fashion, but long and indubitably capacious--something with a hood. A +little cloak, possibly: I don't know. But I am sure that it could +envelop, that it could boil or roast, that it could fairly smother--a +baby! It was lined with golden-brown, crackling silk, which Pattie +Batch's mother had left in her trunk, upon her last departure, poor +woman! from the sordid world of Swamp's End to regions which were now +become in Pattie Batch's loving vision Places of Light. And it was upon +this treasured cloth that Pattie Batch's flashing needle was working +like mad in the lamplight. A Christmas sacrifice: it was labour of love +and the gift of treasure. + +Pattie Batch was lovely. Everybody knew it; and there's no denying it. +Grief had not left her wan and apathetic. She had been "a little man." +She had been so much of a little man that she was now much more of a +little woman than ever she had been before. In respect to her bewitching +endearments, there's no mincing matters, at all. It would shame a man to +'hem and haw and qualify. She was adorable. Beauty of youth and heart of +tenderness: a quaint little womanly child of seventeen--gowned, now, in +a black dress, long-skirted, to be sure! of her mother's old-fashioned +wearing. Gray eyes, wide, dark-lashed, sun-sparkling and shadowy, and +willful dark hair, a sweetly tilted little nose, a boyish, masterful +way, coquettish twinkles, dimples in most perilous places, rosy cheeks, +a tender little figure, an aristocratic toss to her head: why, +indeed--the catalogue of her charms has no end to it! Courage to boot, +too--as though youth and loveliness were not sufficient endowment--and +uncompromising honesty with herself and all the world. She took in +washing from the camps: there was nothing else to do, with Gray Billy +Batch lost in Rattle Water, and now decently stowed away by the Reverend +John Fairmeadow. It was lonely in Gray Billy Batch's cabin, now, of +course; it was sometimes almost intolerably so--and ghostly, too, with +echoes of long-past footsteps and memories of soft motherly words. +Pattie Batch, however, a practical little person, knew in her own mind, +you must be informed, exactly how to still the haunting echoes and +transform the memories into blessed companions of her busy, gentle +solitude; but she had not as yet managed the solution. + +Pattie Batch wanted a baby. Companionship, of course, would be a mere +by-product of a baby's presence in the cabin; the real wealth and +advantage would be a glowing satisfaction in the baby. At any rate, +Pattie Batch wanted one: she always had--and she simply couldn't help +it. Babies, however, were not numerous at Swamp's End; in point of fact, +there was only one--a perfectly adorable infant, it must be understood, +a suitable child, and worthy, in every respect, of being heartily +desired by any woman--which unhappily belonged to the bartender who +lived with Pale Peter of the Red Elephant saloon. No use asking for +_that_ baby! Not outright. It could be borrowed, however. Pattie Batch +_had_ borrowed it; she had borrowed it frequently, of late, and had +mysteriously measured it with a calculating eye, and had estimated, and +scowled in doubt, and scratched her head, and pursed her sweet red lips, +and had secretly spanned the baby, from chin to toe and across the back, +with an industriously inquiring thumb and little finger. But a borrowed +baby, it seems, is of no use whatsoever; the satisfaction is said to be +temporary--nothing more--and to leave a sense of vacant arms and a +stinging aggravation of envy. So what Pattie Batch wanted was a baby to +_keep_--a baby she could call her own and cherish against meddling--a +baby that should be so rosy and fat and curly, so neat and white, so +scrubbed and highly polished from crown to toe-nails, that every mother +in the land, beholding, would promptly expire on the spot of amazement, +incredulity and sheer jealousy. + +There were babies at Elegant Corners--a frowzy, listless mud-hole of the +woods, near by. They were all possessed by one mother, too. The last +comer had appeared in the fall of the year; and Pattie Batch--when the +great news came down to Swamp's End--had instantly taken the trail for +Elegant Corners. + +"Got another, eh?" says she, flatly, to the wretched Mrs. Limp. + +"Uh-huh!" Mrs. Limp sighed and rolled her eyes, as though, God save us! +the ultimate misfortune had fallen upon her. "Number eight," she +groaned. + +"Don't you _like_ it?" Pattie demanded, hopefully. + +Mrs. Limp was so deeply submerged in tears that she failed to commit +herself. + +"You _don't_ like it, eh?" Pattie pursued, hope immediately abounding. + +Mrs. Limp sniffed. + +"Well," said Pattie, her little heart all in a flutter--she was +afflicted, too, with an adorable lisp in excitement--"I th'pothe I +_ought_ t' be _thorry_." + +Mrs. Limp seemed dolefully to agree. + +Pattie Batch came then straight to the point. "I been thavin' up," said +she. "I been hard at it for more 'n theven monthth." + +Mrs. Limp lifted her blue eyelids. + +"Yep," said Pattie, briskly; "an' I got thirty-four twenty-three right +here in my thkirt. _Where'th that baby?_" + +The baby was fetched and deposited in her arms. + +"Boy or girl?" Pattie inquired, with business-like precision. + +"Boy," Mrs. Limp sighed, "thank God!" + +Pattie Batch was vastly disappointed. She had fancied a girl. It was a +shock, indeed, to her ardour. It was so much of a shocking +disappointment that Pattie Batch might easily have wept. A boy--a _boy_! +Oh, shoot! But still, she reflected, considering the scarcity, a +boy--this boy, in fact, cleaned up--Pattie Batch was all the time +running the mottled infant over with sharply appraising eyes--yes, the +child had possibilities, unquestionably so, which soap and water might +astonishingly improve--and, in fine, this little boy might-- + +"Mithuth Limp," said Pattie, looking that lady straight in the eye, +"I'll give you twenty-five dollarth for thith here baby. By George, I +will!" + +The astonished mother jumped out of her chair and her lassitude at the +same instant. + +"Not another thent!" Pattie craftily declared. "Here--take your baby." + +Mrs. Limp did not quite _take_ the baby. That would be but a pale +indication of the speed, directness and outraged determination with +which she acted. She snatched the baby away, with the precision of a +brisk woodpecker after an escaping worm; and she hugged it until it +howled for mercy--and she hushed it--and she crooned endearment--and she +kissed the baby with such fervour and persistency that she saved its +puckered face a washing. And then she turned--in a rage of +indignation--in a storm of scorn--in a whirlwind of execration--upon +poor little Pattie Batch. But Pattie Batch was gone. Discreet little +Pattie Batch didn't need to be _told_! Her little feet were already +pattering over the trail to Swamp's End; and she was crying as she ran. + + * * * * * + +But Pattie Batch's wish for a baby went back to the very beginnings of +things. Ask Gingerbread Jenkins. Gingerbread Jenkins knows. It was +Gingerbread Jenkins who had found her, long ago--Pattie was little more +than a baby herself, then--on the Bottle River Trail; and to Gingerbread +Jenkins' astonishment the child was lugging a gun into the woods. + +"Where _you_ goin'?" says Gingerbread Jenkins. + +"Gunnin'." + +"Gunnin', eh? What for?" + +"Jutht gunnin'." + +"But what you gunnin' _for_?" + +"None o' your bithneth," says saucy little Pattie Batch. + +"It _is_ my business," Gingerbread Jenkins declared; "an' if you don't +tell me what you're gunnin' for I'll have you home in a jiffy." + +"Well," says Pattie, "I'm--gunnin'." + +"What for?" + +"Storks," says Pattie. + +"Goin' t' _kill_ 'em?" Gingerbread inquired. + +"No," says Pattie. + +"What's your gun for?" + +"I'm goin' t' wing a couple," says Pattie, "an' tame 'em." + +That was Pattie Batch. + +[Illustration] + + + + +_A GIFT NEGLECTED_ + + +Well, well! there was only one baby at Swamp's End; and that baby Pattie +Batch had adopted. In her mind, of course: _quite_ on the sly. Nobody +could adopt Pale Peter's bartender's baby in any other way. And here was +Christmas come again! Day gone beyond the last waving pines in a cold +flush of red and gold: Christmas Eve here at last. Pattie Batch's soft +arms were still wanting; there were a thousand kisses waiting on her +tender lips for giving; her voice was all attuned to crooning sweetest +lullabys; but her heart was empty--save for a child of mist and wishes. +It was dark, now; but though the wind was still rollicking down there +was no snow blowing, and the shy stars were winking wide-eyed upon the +busy world and all the myriad mysteries it exhibited out-of-doors. The +gift of silk and fawn-skin was finished. A perfect gift: fashioned and +accomplished with all the dexterity Pattie Batch could employ. "Just as +if," she had determined, "it was for my _own_ baby." And Pattie +Batch--after an agitated glance at the clock--quickly shoed and cloaked +and hooded her sweet and blooming little self; and she listened to the +lusty wind, and she put a most adorable little nose out-of-doors to +sense the frosty weather, and she fluttered about the warm room in +search of her mittens, and then she turned down the lamp, chucked a log +in the stove, put on the dampers like a prudent householder, and, having +made quite sure that the door was latched, scampered off to town in vast +and twittering delight with the nipping frost, with the roistering wind, +the fluffy snow, the stars, the whole of God's clean world, and with +herself, too, and with the blessed Night of the year. + +She was exceedingly cautious; and she was not observed--not for the +smallest flash. The thing was accomplished in mystery. Before she was +aware of it--before her heart had eased its agitation--she was safely +out again; and there, in plain view, on the table, in Pale Peter's +living-room behind the saloon, lay the gift of silk and fawn-skin for +Pale Peter's bartender's baby--a Christmas mystery for them all to solve +as best they could. + +Pattie Batch peeked in at the window. + +"I wonder," she mused, "if they'll _ever_--if they'll _ever in the +world_--find out I done it!" + + * * * * * + +Presently Pale Peter's bartender came in. This was Charlie the Infidel. +Pattie Batch rose on her cold little toes the better to observe. The +frost exploded like pistol shots under her feet. She started. Really, +the little mite began to feel--and rather exquisitely--like a thief in +the night. There was another explosion of frost as she crept nearer her +peek-hole in the glowing window. Whew! How deliciously mysterious it +was! Nothing much, however, happened in Pale Peter's living-room to +continue the thrill. Charlie the Infidel, in haste, chanced to brush the +fawn-skin cloak off the table. He paused impatiently to pick it up, and +to fling it back in a heap: whereupon he pressed on to the bar. _That_ +wasn't very thrilling, you may be sure; but Charlie the Infidel, after +all, was only a father, and Pattie Batch, her courage not at all +diminished, still waited in the frosty shadow, quite absorbed in +expectation. Entered, then, Mrs. Bartender--a blonde, bored, +novel-reading little lady in splendid array. First of all, as Pattie +Batch observed, she yawned; secondly, she yawned again. And she was +about to attempt the extraordinary feat of yawning a third time--and +doubtless would have achieved it--when her washed blue eyes chanced to +fall on the fawn-skin coat, with its lining of golden-brown silk +shimmering in the lamplight. She picked it up, of course, in a bored +sort of way; and she was positively on the very verge of being +interested in it when--would you believe it?--she attacked the third +yawn--or the third yawn attacked her--and however it was, the yawn was +accomplished with such dexterity, such certainty, and with such +satisfaction to the lady, that she quite forgot to look at the fawn-skin +cloak again. + +"By George, she's tired!" Pattie Batch exclaimed to herself. + +Pattie Batch sighed: she sighed twice, in point of fact--the second +sigh, a great, long one, discovering itself somewhere very deep +within--and then she went home disconsolate. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + +_THE MAKING OF A MAN_ + + +Soon after dark, John Fairmeadow, with a pack on his broad back, swung +from the Jumping Jimmy trail into the clearing of Swamp's End, ceasing +only then his high, vibrant song, and came striding down the huddled +street, a big man in rare humour with life, labour and the night. A +shadow--not John Fairmeadow's shadow--was in cautious pursuit; but of +this dark, secret follower John Fairmeadow was not aware. Near the Cafe +of Egyptian Delights he stumbled. The pursuing Shadow gasped; and John +Fairmeadow was so mightily exercised for his pack that he ejaculated in +a fashion most unministerial, but recovered his footing with a jerk, and +doubtless near turned pale with apprehension. But the pack was safe--the +delicate contents, whatever they were, quite undisturbed. John +Fairmeadow gently adjusted the pack, stamped the snow from his soles, as +a precautionary measure, wiped the frost from his brows and eyelids, in +the same cautious wisdom, and, still followed by the Shadow, strode on, +but with infinitely more care. At the Red Elephant--Pale Peter's glowing +saloon--he turned in. The bar, as always, in these days, gave the young +apostle to those unrighteous parts a roaring welcome. It was become the +fashion: big, bubbling, rosy John Fairmeadow, with the square jaw, the +frank, admonitory tongue, the tender and persuasive heart, the +competent, not unwilling fists, was welcome everywhere, from the Bottle +River camps and the Cant-hook cutting to the bunk-houses of the Yellow +Tail, from beyond the Divide to the lower waters of the Big River, in +every saloon, bunk-house, superintendent's office and cook's quarters of +his wide green parish--welcome to preach and to pray, to bury, marry, +gossip and scold, and, upon goodly provocation, to fight, all to the +same righteous end. A clean man: a big, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, +long-legged body, with a soul to match it--a glowing heart and a purpose +lifted high. There was no mistaking the man by men. + +John Fairmeadow, clad like a lumber-jack, upright, now, in the full +stature of a man, body and soul, grinned like a delighted schoolboy. His +fine head was thrown back, in the pride of clean, sure strength; his +broad face was in a rosy glow; his great chest still heaved with the +labour of a stormy trail; his gray eyes flashed and twinkled in the soft +light of Pale Peter's many lamps. Twinkled?--and with merriment?--in +that long, stifling, roaring, smoky, fume-laden room? For a moment: then +closed, a bit worn, and melancholy, too; but presently, with reviving +faith to urge them, opened wide and heartily, and began to twinkle +again. The bar was in festive array: Christmas greens, red berries, +ribbons, tissue-paper and gleaming tinfoil--flash of mirrors, bright +colour, branches of pine, cedar and spruce from the big balsamic woods. +It was crowded with lumber-jacks--great fellows from the forest, big of +body and passion, here gathered in celebration of the festival. John +Fairmeadow, getting all at once and vigorously under way, shouted "Merry +Christmas, boys!" and "Hello, Charlie!" to the bartender; and he shook +hands with Pale Peter, slapped Billy the Beast on the back, roared a +greeting to Gingerbread Jenkins, exclaimed "Merry Christmas!" with the +speed and detonation of a Gatling gun, inquired after Butcher Long's +brood of kids in the East, and cried "Hello, old man!" and "What's the +good word from Yellow Tail?" and "How d'ye do?" and "Glad t' see you!" +and everywhere shook hands and clapped backs--carefully preserving, +however, his own back from being slapped--and devoutly ejaculated "God +bless you, men! A Merry Christmas to you all and every one!" and +eventually disappeared in the direction of Pale Peter's living-quarters, +leaving an uproar of genial delight behind him. + +John Fairmeadow's Shadow, however, unable to enter the bar of the Red +Elephant, waited in seclusion across the windy street. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Bartender was still yawning as John Fairmeadow entered upon her +_ennui_; but when the big minister, exercising the softest sort of +caution, slipped off his gigantic pack, and deposited it with +exquisitely delicate care, and a face of deep concern, on the table, she +opened her faded eyes with interested curiosity. And as for the contents +of the pack, there's no more concealing them! The article must now be +declared and produced. It was a baby. Of course, it was a baby! The +thing has been obvious all along. John Fairmeadow's foundling: left in a +basket at the threshold of his temporary lodging-room at Big Rapids that +very morning--first to John Fairmeadow's consternation, and then to his +gleeful delight. As for the baby itself--it was presently unswathed--it +is quite beyond me to describe its excellencies of appearance and +conduct. John Fairmeadow himself couldn't make the attempt and escape +annihilation. It was a real and regular baby, however. One might +suggest, in inadequate description, that it was a plump baby; one might +add that it was a lusty baby. It had hair; it had a pucker of amazement; +its eyes, two of them, were properly disposed in its head; its hands +were of what are called rose-leaf dimensions; it had, apparently, a +fixed habit of squirming; it had no teeth. Evidently a healthy baby--a +baby that any mother might be proud of--doubtless a marvel of infantile +perfection in every respect. I should not venture to dispute such an +assertion; nor would John Fairmeadow--nor any other bold gentleman of +Swamp's End and Elegant Corners--_not in these later days_! + +Mrs. Bartender, of course, lifted her languid white hands in uttermost +astonishment. + +"There!" John Fairmeadow exploded, looking round like a showman. "What +d'ye think o' _that_? Eh?" + +"But, Mr. Fairmeadow," the poor lady stammered, "what have you brought +it _here_ for?" + +"Why not?" John Fairmeadow demanded. "Why not, indeed? It's perfectly +polite." + +"What am I to _do_ with it?" + +"It isn't intoxicated, my good woman," John Fairmeadow ran on, in great +wrath; "and it's never been in jail." + +"But my _dear_ Mr. Fairmeadow, do be sensible; what am I to _do_ with +it?" + +"Why, ah--I should think," John Fairmeadow ventured--the baby was still +sleeping like a brick--"that you might first of all--ah--resuscitate it. +Would a--a slight poke in the ribs--provoke animation?" + +But the baby didn't need a poke in the ribs. It didn't need any other +sort of resuscitation. Not _that_ baby! The self-dependent, courageous, +perfectly competent and winning little rascal resuscitated itself. +Instantly, too--and positively--and apparently without the least effort +in the world. Moreover--and with remarkable directness--it demanded what +it wanted--and got it. And having been nourished to its satisfaction +from young Master Bartender's silver-mounted bottle (which John +Fairmeadow then secretly slipped into his pocket)--and having yawned in +a fashion so tremendous that Mrs. Bartender herself could never hope to +equal that infinite expression of boredom--and having smiled, and having +wriggled, and having giggled, and cooed, and attempted--actually +attempted--to get its great toe in its mouth without extraneous +assistance of any sort whatsoever--even without the slightest suggestion +that such a thing would be an amazingly engaging trick in a baby of its +age and degree--it burst into a gurgle of glee so wondrously genuine and +infectious that poor, bored Mrs. Bartender herself was quite unable to +resist it, and promptly, and publicly, and finally committed herself to +the assertion that the baby was a dear, wherever it came from. + +John Fairmeadow snatched it from the table, and was about to make off +with it, when Mrs. Bartender interposed. + +"My _dear_ Mr. Fairmeadow," said she, "that child will simply catch its +_death_ of cold!" + +There was something handy, however--something of silk and fawn-skin--and +with this enveloping the baby John Fairmeadow swung in a roar with it to +the bar--and held it aloft in all that seething wickedness--pure symbol +of the blessed Christmas festival. And there was a sensation, of +course--a sensation beginning in vociferous ejaculations, but presently +failing to a buzz of conjecture. There were questions to follow: to +which John Fairmeadow answered that he had found the baby--that the baby +was nobody's baby--that the baby was his baby by right of finders +keepers--that the baby was everybody's baby--and that the baby would +presently be somebody's much-loved baby, _that_ he'd vouch for! The +baby, now resting content in John Fairmeadow's arms, was diffidently +approached and examined. Gingerbread Jenkins poked a finger at it, and +said, in a voice of the most inimical description, "Get out!" without +disturbing the baby's serene equanimity in the slightest. Young Billy +Lush, charging his soft, boyish voice with all the horrifying intent he +could muster, threatened to "catch" the baby, as though bent upon +devouring it on the spot; but the baby only chuckled with delight. Billy +the Beast incautiously approached a finger near the baby's stout +abdomen; and the baby--with a perfectly fearless glance into the very +depths of the Beast's frowzy beard--clutched the finger and smiled like +an angel. Long Butcher Long attempted to tweak the baby's nose; but the +effort was a ridiculous failure, practiced so clumsily on an object so +small, and the only effect was to cause the baby to achieve a tremendous +wriggle and a loud scream of laughter. These experiments were variously +repeated, but all with the same cherubic result; the baby conducted +itself with admirable self-possession and courage, as though, indeed, it +had been used, every hour of its life, to the company of riotous +lumber-jacks in town. + +The inevitable happened, of course: Billy the Beast, whose pocket was +smoking with his wages, proposed the baby's health, and there was an +uproarious rush for the bar. + +"Just a minute, boys!" John Fairmeadow drawled. + +It was an awkward moment: but the jacks were by this time used to being +bidden by this man who was a man, and the rush was forthwith halted. + +"Just a minute, boys," John Fairmeadow repeated, "for your minister!" + +The baby was then held aloft in John Fairmeadow's big, kind, sensitive +hands, and from this safe perch softly smiled upon the crowd of flushed +and bearded faces all roundabout. + +"Boys," John Fairmeadow drawled, significantly, "this is the only sort +of church we have in these woods." + +There was a laughing stir and shuffling: but presently a tolerant +silence fell, in obedience to the custom John Fairmeadow had +established; and caps came off, and pipes were smothered. + +"A little away from the bar, please," the big preacher suggested. + +Pale Peter nodded to Charlie the Infidel; and the clink of glasses +ceased--and the bottles were left in peace--and the hands of the +bartender rested. + +"Now, boys," said John Fairmeadow, letting the foundling fall softly +into his arms, "I'm not going to preach to you to-night, though God +knows you need it! I'm just going to pray for the baby. _Dear Father of +us wilful Children of the Vale_," he began, at once, lifting a placid, +believing face above the smiling child in his arms, "_we ask Thy +guardianship of this child. In us is no perfect counsel for him nor any +help whatsoever that he may surely apprehend. In Thine acceptable wisdom +Thou settest Thy little ones in a world where presently only Thou canst +teach them: teach Thou then this little one. Thou alone knowest the +right path for a little boy's inquiring feet: lead then this little boy. +Thou alone art saving helper to an adventuring lad: help then this lad. +Thou alone art all-perceiving and persuasive, alone art Truth Teller to +a bewildered youth and Good Example in his wondering sight: be then Good +Example and Teller of Truth to this youth. Thou alone art in the +fashioning ways of Thine own world a Maker of Men: make then of this +little child a Man. We ask no easy path for him--no unmanly way--no +indulgent tempering of the winds. We pray for no riches--for no great +deeds of his doing--for no ease at all nor any satisfaction. We ask of +Thee in his behalf good Manhood. Lead him where true men must go: lead +him where they learn the all of life; lead him where they level down and +build again; lead him where in righteous strength his hands may lift the +fallen; lead him where in anger he may strike; lead him where his tears +may fall; lead him where his heart may find a pure desire. O Almighty +God, Lover of children, Father of us all alike, make of this child, in +the measure of his service and in the stature of his soul, a Man. +Amen._" + +Amen, indeed! + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CHRISTMAS EVE AT SWAMP'S END_ + + +As for poor little Pattie Batch, all this while, she sat alone, a +doleful heart, in the shack at the edge of the big, black woods, quite +unaware of the momentous advent of a Christmas baby at Swamp's End. The +Christmas wind was still high, still shaking the cabin, still rattling +the door, still howling like a wild beast in the night, still roaring in +the red stove; and snow was falling again--a dry dust of snow which +veiled the wondering stars. It was no longer a jolly, rollicking +Christmas wind. The gale, now, it seemed, was become inimical to the +lonely child: wild, vaunting, merciless, terrible with cold. Pattie +Batch, disconsolate, sighed more often than a tender heart could bear to +sanction in a child, and found swift visions in the glowing coals, +though no enlivening tableaux; but--dear brave and human little +one!--she presently ejaculated "Shoot it, anyhow!" and began at once to +cheer up. And she was comfortably toasting her shins, in a placid +delusion of stormy, mile-wide privacy, her mother's old-fashioned long +black skirt drawn up from her dainty toes (of which, of course, the +imminent John Fairmeadow was never permitted to be aware), when, all at +once, and clamouring above the old wind's howling, there was a +tremendous knocking at the door--a knocking so loud, and commanding, and +prolonged, that Pattie Batch jumped like a fawn in alarm, and stood for +a moment with palpitating heart and a mighty inclination to fly to the +bedroom and lock herself in. Presently, however, she mustered courage to +call "Come in!" in a sufficient tone: whereupon, the door was +immediately flung wide, and big John Fairmeadow, with a wild, dusty +blast of the gale, strode in with a gigantic basket, and slammed the +door behind him, leaving the shivering, tenacious Shadow, which had +secretly followed from Swamp's End, to keep cold vigil outside. + +"Hello, there, Pattie Batch!" John Fairmeadow roared. "Merry Christmas!" + +Pattie Batch stared. + +"Hello, I say!" John Fairmeadow cried, again. "Merry Christmas, ye +rascal!" + +Pattie Batch, gulping her delight, and quite incapable of uttering a +word, because of it, flew to the kitchen, instead of to the bedroom, and +returned with a broom, with which, while the Shadow peeked in at the +window, she brushed, and scraped, and slapped John Fairmeadow so +vigorously that John Fairmeadow scampered into a corner and stood at +bay. + +"Look out, there, Polly Pry!" he shouted, in a rage; "don't you _dare_ +look at my basket." + +Pattie Batch had been doing nothing of the sort. + +"Don't you so much as _squint_ at my basket," John Fairmeadow growled. + +Pattie Batch instantly _did_, of course--and with her eyes wide and +sparkling, too. It was really something more than a squint. + +"Keep your eyes off that basket, Miss Pry!" John Fairmeadow commanded, +again. "Huh!" he complained, emerging from his refuge and throwing his +mackinaw and cap on the floor; "anybody'd think there was something in +that basket for _you_." + +"There ith," Pattie Batch gasped, in ecstasy. + +"Is!" John Fairmeadow scornfully mocked. "Huh!" + +Pattie Batch caught John Fairmeadow by the two lapels of his coat--and +she stood on tiptoe--and she wouldn't let John Fairmeadow turn his head +away--(as if John Fairmeadow cared to evade those round, glowing +eyes!)--and she looked into his gray eyes with a bewitching +conglomeration of hope, amusement, curiosity and adoring childish +affection. "There ith, too," she chuckled, her lisp getting the better +of her. "Yeth, there ith. I know _you_, Mithter Fairmeadow." + +John Fairmeadow ridiculously failed to smother a chuckle in a growl. + +"Doth it bite?" Pattie Batch inquired, maliciously feigning a terrific +fright. + +"Nonsense!" John Fairmeadow declared; "it hasn't a tooth in its head." +He added, with one eye closed, and palms lifted: "But--aha!--just you +wait and _see_." + +"Well," Pattie Batch drawled, "I th'pose it'th a turkey. It'th +thertainly _thome_thin' t' eat," she declared. + +"Good _enough_ to eat, I bet you!" John Fairmeadow agreed, with the air +of having concealed in that veritable big basket the sweetest morsel in +all the world. + +"Ith it a chicken?" + +"Nonsense!" said John Fairmeadow; "it's fa-a-a-ar more delicious than +chicken. Hi, there, Poll Pry!" he roared, and just in time; "keep your +hands off." + +"Is it anything for the house?" + +"No, indeed; the house is for _it_." + +Pattie Batch scowled in perplexity. + +"The back yard, too," John Fairmeadow added; "and don't you forget that +this whole place--and all the world--belongs to just what's in that +basket." + +"I'm sure," poor Pattie Batch mused, scratching her curls in +bewilderment, "I can't guess what it _could_ be." + +Both were now staring at the basket; and at that very moment the blanket +covering--_stirred_! + +"Ith a dog!" Pattie Batch exclaimed. + +"Dog!" the outraged John Fairmeadow roared. "Nothing of the sort! No +_ma'am_!" + +Pattie Batch clasped her hands. "It ith, too!" she cried. "I thaw it +move." + +"It is _not_!" + +"Ith a kitten, then." + +"It is _not_ a kitten!" + +Thereupon--while the Shadow, by whom John Fairmeadow had been dogged +that night, now peered with acute attention through a break in the frost +on the window-pane--thereupon, without any warning save a second slight +movement of the blanket, a sound--and not by any means a growl--the +thing was certainly not a dog--a sound proceeded from the depths of the +basket. + +Pattie Batch jumped away. + +"Well, well!" cried John Fairmeadow; "what's the row?" + +Row, indeed! Pattie Batch was gone white; and she swayed a little, and +shivered, too, and clenched her little hands to restrain her amazing +hope. "Oh," she moaned, at last, far short of breath enough, "tell me +quick: ith it--ith it a--a----" + +John Fairmeadow threw back the blanket in a most dramatic fashion; and +there, wrapped in the neglected fawn-skin cloak, all dimpled and +smiling, lay-- + +THE BABY! + +"By George!" screamed Pattie Batch; "it _ith_ a baby!" + +"Your baby," John Fairmeadow whispered. "God's Christmas gift--to you." + +Pattie Batch--adorable, young mother!--reverently approached, and, +bending with parted lips, eyes shining, and hands laid upon her +trembling heart, for the first time gazed content upon the little face. +She lifted, then--and with what awe and tenderness!--the tiny mortal +from the warm basket, and pressed it, with knowing arms, against her +warmer, softer young breast. "My baby!" she crooned, her lips close to +its ear; "my little baby--my own little baby!" + +[Illustration] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Christmas Eve at Swamp's End, by Norman Duncan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS EVE AT SWAMP'S END *** + +***** This file should be named 27612.txt or 27612.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/6/1/27612/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |