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+Project Gutenberg's The Misfit Christmas Puddings, by Club Consolation
+
+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: The Misfit Christmas Puddings
+
+Author: Club Consolation
+
+Illustrator: Wallace Goldsmith
+
+Release Date: May 21, 2012 [EBook #39753]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David T. Jones, Matthew Wheaton, Mardi
+Desjardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada
+Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.netCanada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS
+
+    [Illustration: "ENJOYING HER FATHER'S PARTING FONDLING."]
+
+
+
+
+    _THE_ MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS
+
+    BY
+
+    THE CONSOLATION CLUB
+
+
+    _Illustrated by Wallace Goldsmith_
+
+    JOHN W. LUCE & COMPANY PUBLISHERS
+
+    BOSTON & LONDON
+    1906
+
+
+    _Copyright, 1906_
+    By JOHN W. LUCE & COMPANY
+    _Entered at Stationers' Hall_
+
+
+    Colonial Press
+    _C. H. Simonds & Co._
+    _Boston, U. S. A._
+
+
+
+
+_THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS_
+
+
+_TIME_
+    The day before Christmas and Christmas day.
+
+_PLACES_
+    BAKER BAUMGÄRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT. Large and flourishing.
+    THE M'CARTY ABODE. Small and dilapidated.
+
+_CHARACTERS_
+    HERR BAUMGÄRTNER, with a mercenary heart and an eye to the main
+      chance.
+    KATRINA BAUMGÄRTNER, with a tender heart and an eye on her
+      lover.
+    HERR BAUMGÄRTNER'S EMPLOYEES, with commercial hearts and eyes
+      single to the approval of KATRINA BAUMGÄRTNER.
+    WIDOW M'CARTY, with a sad heart and many cares.
+          { Granny M'Carty,--much care; little comfort.
+    HER   { Grandad Rafferty,--much comfort; little
+    CARES { care.
+          { Nine Little M'Cartys,--both cares and comforts.
+    MICHAEL M'CARTY,--the loved and lamented.
+
+
+
+
+_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+
+    "ENJOYING HER FATHER'S PARTING FONDLING"
+
+    "THE GREAT DELIGHT OF ALL THE CHILDREN"
+
+    "'FOR MY THIRTEEN BEST CUSTOMERS'"
+
+    "SHE APPLIED HERSELF TO THE SHIRTS WITH VIGOR"
+
+    "IMPRINTED ON THEM A FEW REMINDERS OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE"
+
+    "GRANDAD WAS SPEECHLESS"
+
+    "'AN' ARE YE INSINOOATIN', MISTHER RAFFERTY?'"
+
+    "AS KATRINA PASSED THROUGH THE STORE"
+
+    "'I MAY GO, MAY I NOT?'"
+
+    "'IT'S SAMPLES I HAVE . . .' SAID TERENCE, PROUDLY DISPLAYING
+    THE CONTENTS OF HIS BUNDLE"
+
+    "TO ADMIRE THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS"
+
+    "AND AS SHE SAT THERE MEMORY CAME AND STOOD BY HER"
+
+    "KATRINA . . . WENT TO WORK"
+
+    "HE PICKED UP THE CARD AND READ"
+
+    "WAS ON HIS WAY TO THE CITY HOSPITAL"
+
+    "'A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KATRINA BAUMGÄRTNER!'"
+
+    "SHE PLACED BOTH PUDDINGS IN HER APRON"
+
+    "'GOTT IN HIMMEL! DONNER UND BLITZEN!'"
+
+    "'TWELVE CAKES TO THE WIDOW M'CARTY!'"
+
+    "BRIDGET NEXT ATTACKED HER FATHER"
+
+    "'IT'S MORE ROOMETIZ FOR ME, SO IT IS'"
+
+    "'VEN I SMOKES DAT PIPE DEN I FORGET DOSE PLUM PUDDINGS'"
+
+    "HIS GLANCE FELL UPON SOMETHING WHITE THAT LAY ON THE COUNTER"
+
+    "'A STICK OF CANDY APIECE'"
+
+    "KATY . . . RETURNED BEARING ALOFT A PACKAGE"
+
+    "MRS. M'CARTY LET THEM HUNT"
+
+    "THE HOUSE . . . HELD MORE HIDING-PLACES THAN ONE WOULD HAVE
+    SUPPOSED"
+
+    "'IT'S MY MICHAEL,--MY HEART OF THE WORLD'"
+
+
+
+
+_THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS_
+
+
+
+
+_First Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGÄRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY
+BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+'Twas the day before Christmas, yet there was no need to tell that to
+any one in Buffalo, for everywhere in the city was the stir and
+excitement that precedes a great holiday. Every one seemed to be alert
+and in a hurry. The very air was full of Christmas scents. One felt
+that something unusual was going on, and nowhere was this more
+apparent than in Baker Baumgärtner's large establishment.
+
+Among the German residents of this prosperous lake port this was the
+most popular bakery in the town, and Herr Baumgärtner was caterer and
+confectioner as well as baker. Consequently he had a very large trade,
+and the twelve wagons that were despatched daily from the Baumgärtner
+bakery went to all parts of the city. Not only was he popular among
+the German residents, but whoever had once tasted the baker's crisp
+rolls and genuine German rye bread--not to mention the Lebkuchen and
+Pfeffernüsse at Christmastime--never neglected an opportunity to order
+more. Even the delicious Marzipan Brod--a sweetmeat made of almonds,
+sugar, and rose-water--was not omitted from his Christmas confections.
+Certainly, Herr Baumgärtner's establishment was almost too tempting
+for one who possessed but a slender pocketbook at Christmas-time.
+
+The windows, washed and polished until they fairly shone, were now
+hung with wreaths of holly, and festoons of evergreens were draped
+across both doors and windows in token of the holiday season. Two
+large firtrees in boxes stood on each side of the entrance.
+
+Herr Baumgärtner's Christmas windows were the great delight of all the
+children in the neighborhood, for in one stood a tall Christmas tree
+from whose branches dangled the most wonderful candies and
+cakes,--boys and girls, kings and queens, cows, dogs, funny fat pigs,
+violins, real Swiss houses,--in fact all kinds of toys. These were
+made either of chocolate, sugar, or gingerbread. This marvellous tree
+was also adorned with a huge silver star at the top, while glittering
+gold and silver paper chains were suspended from its branches. These,
+and the many colored candles, made it a bewildering sight. Truly, it
+was a real fairy Christmas tree.
+
+[Illustration: "THE GREAT DELIGHT OF ALL THE CHILDREN"]
+
+Perhaps no one but Herr Baumgärtner himself knew that this tree was in
+memory of a little boy who long years before had spent a few short
+Christmas days with him, for Herr Baumgärtner's only son had died when
+three years old. The baker was not a man who was supposed to have much
+sentiment, but he would as soon omit the baking of the Christmas cakes
+as omit the Christmas tree in remembrance of little Fritz. It
+certainly was a joy and delight to all the children round about, and
+so great was its fame that many a child begged "to go just once"--if
+he lived a long way off--and see the Baumgärtner's wonderful Christmas
+tree.
+
+Though it was yet early in the morning the wagons were already
+returning from the delivery of the breakfast rolls and bread. The air
+of the store was odorous with appetizing scents, attesting the baker's
+concocting skill. The shelves were filled with fragrant fresh bread,
+and there was an extra supply of cakes and buns.
+
+Under the glass cases were arranged the most tempting holiday cakes.
+Particularly attractive was the Lebkuchen,--a highly spiced
+gingerbread,--which was artistically made into different shapes, some
+square, others large and round, while again others were in the form of
+hearts with an ornament of sugar-work around the outside. On many were
+the words, "Merry Christmas," in tiny red and white candies. The
+animals made of gingerbread were as numerous as those that went into
+the Ark. These were done over with a thin white icing, and not a child
+that entered the bakery could be induced to leave without at least one
+animal which he selected as his fancy prompted him, while many almost
+wept because they could not buy all. But perhaps for "grown-ups" the
+favorite cakes were the hard little Pfeffernüsse.
+
+Large wreaths of pine were suspended from the ceiling, and a feeling
+of homesickness came over many a German customer at the smell of the
+favorite Lebkuchen and the words, "Fröhliche Weihnachten,"--for Baker
+Baumgärtner was a shrewd man and wished his customers a merry
+Christmas in German as well as in English,--and they thought of the
+joyful times in the Fatherland when the Christ-child had visited the
+home and had brought them just such simple gifts as these.
+
+Baker Baumgärtner was a big, burly man with a loud, gruff voice. He
+expected prompt obedience from all his employees,--apprentice boys,
+bakers, and clerks alike,--and this he usually obtained. He was very
+methodical, attending to every detail of his large business and
+knowing just what to require from every one under him.
+
+"Be fair and honest" was his motto; yet he delighted in "making
+moneys,"--as he expressed it,--but honestly.
+
+His interests in life seemed to be divided between his growing
+business and his pretty daughter, Katrina. She was the idol of his eye
+and he could refuse her nothing, though counted close in business
+matters.
+
+It was eight o'clock in the morning and trade was beginning briskly.
+The telephone orders kept the bell jingling. The clerks and bakers
+were prepared for a busy day, and had received from Herr Baumgärtner
+their special instructions in regard to the catering and delivering.
+Already early customers were beginning to come in.
+
+Herr Baumgärtner stood near a table which was in the rear of the
+store. On this table were displayed thirteen Christmas puddings, set
+apart in royal aloofness. These the baker intended as presents to
+some of his best customers.
+
+"Ach, dose puddings!" he soliloquized. "Goot, rich, schön! But I get
+my moneys back again." In other words, he anticipated a large return
+from a small investment.
+
+Baker Baumgärtner knew how to do the handsome thing upon occasion, and
+was possessed of a generosity which, like Bob Acres' courage, "came
+and went." Just now it was at full tide. Desirous of presenting his
+gifts in the best possible manner, he went to his desk, and taking out
+thirteen gilt-edged cards, he wrote on each: "With the Christmas
+Greetings of Herr Wilhelm Baumgärtner." He next took from its wrapping
+a quantity of pink and blue tissue paper with embroidered edges.
+
+At this moment Hans Kleinhardt, his head clerk, entered the store.
+
+"Hans, come you here once!" cried the baker. "Dot fine puddings vat
+you see dere are for my thirteen best customers. Vat you tink,
+Hans,"--showing him the tissue papers, "joost de ting to wrap dot
+puddings in, nicht wahr? Always in Hirschberg dey say to me, 'Ach,
+Herr Baumgärtner, Sie haben immer so schönes Papier.'"
+
+[Illustration: "'FOR MY THIRTEEN BEST CUSTOMERS'"]
+
+"Ja, ja," assented Hans, "it is so fine already."
+
+So anxious was our Hans to ingratiate himself and make a good
+impression,--for Hans was ambitious,--that had Herr Baumgärtner wished
+them wrapped in circus posters Hans would have said: "Ja, ja, it is so
+fine already."
+
+"Dot pink, Hans, ist ausgezeichnet, dot will we haf, and moreover on
+each tie you a piece of dat Christmas holly mit de red berries. Hans,
+see. Here is dat list of mein thirteen best customers. Send you dem
+dose puddings. Each and efery pudding is joost quite alike. Here are
+dose cardts mit vich I send dem my Christmas Greetings. You see dot
+dose puddings get sent dis Christmas eve."
+
+Hans put the list and the thirteen cards into his pocket and promised
+to attend to the order faithfully.
+
+"A 'phone call for you, sir," said one of his clerks.
+
+Herr Baumgärtner went slowly to the telephone. Nothing ever made the
+good baker hurry, for haste was not in his make-up.
+
+"Hello, vat you vant?"
+
+A large order had not been delivered. That was an unpardonable offence
+in the Baumgärtner establishment. The baker was slow to be aroused,
+but when once his anger was awakened he was, indeed, a furious man.
+The wild, fierce Teuton in him got the upper hand.
+
+"Donner Wetter!" he cried. "Vat for dat big order not delivered, and
+vone of mein goot customers dat leaves me much moneys? You tink I hire
+you for noddings, eh? Joost to trow my moneys away on you?"
+
+He stormed and raged at the unlucky clerk through whose carelessness
+the mistake had occurred.
+
+"Himmel!" he yelled. "How come dat you forget? You are one Dummkopf! I
+haf not served in die German army for noddings, and ven I say 'You
+delifer dose tings on Monday' I mean on Monday, and not on Tuesday.
+You hear dat now?"
+
+The unhappy clerk acknowledged that he heard, and, fortunately for
+him, the entrance of a wealthy customer saved him from further wrath.
+The sincere admiration expressed by the customer for the Christmas
+decorations and the Christmas confections was appreciated by the
+baker, and the pleasant words, being supplemented by a large order,
+restored Herr Baumgärtner to his usual good humor. As he returned to
+his office he could not refrain from pausing a moment beside the table
+which held the Christmas puddings.
+
+"Ach, dose puddings!" he commented, viewing them with professional
+pride, "Dey are joost like von picture!"
+
+
+
+
+_Second Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE MORNING OF THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+Down on the tow-path was a little, weather-beaten shanty that
+presented a far different setting for the enactments of the coming
+holiday.
+
+Here, for six sad months, the Widow M'Carty had tried to keep the wolf
+from the door, but work as she might, her efforts would hardly have
+frightened an able-bodied weasel.
+
+It was now some eight months since Michael M'Carty, broad-shouldered,
+courageous, and loving, had rushed home to his snug cottage one
+noon-time with the news that he had shipped as assistant engineer on
+the big, new freighter, the _Go-Between_, which was to leave port that
+very night.
+
+Bridget, his wife, had smiled bravely at him through tears that the
+prospect of separation called to her eyes, but went thriftily to work
+to get his clothes in readiness; "Fer," said she, "there'll be no
+tellin' whin they'll feel a needle again."
+
+Michael M'Carty had followed the lakes before, and now with better
+wages than ever it was no time for "complainin'." Indeed, there never
+had been any time for "complainin'" in Bridget's cheery, helpful life.
+Even the maternal cares which had multiplied so rapidly had not robbed
+her of her girlish buoyancy, and the ninth little M'Carty, at that
+moment enjoying her father's parting fondling, had been just as
+welcome as the first, now a proud member of the highest "Grammar
+Grade," though barely thirteen.
+
+Michael M'Carty was ambitious for his children, and even dreamed of
+sending his cleverest offspring to the New High School which he passed
+each morning on his way to work. That presumptuous plan never had been
+whispered to any one save his "darlin' Biddy," and they dreaded the
+day when it should be made known to Granny M'Carty, whose presence at
+the family hearthstone supplied all the discipline that could possibly
+be needed in any fairly moral household. Granny M'Carty's rule was
+like unto that of the Chinese mother-in-law, and if anything ever had
+pleased her since her son brought her to his hospitable home, she had
+betrayed no suspicion of the feeling.
+
+On the occasion described Granny swayed to and fro in her chair,--the
+most comfortable that the house afforded,--and wailed:
+
+"Ochone, sorra the day! The banshee was singin' onunder the windy last
+night, an' ye'll be drownded, sure; or failin' or that ye won't know
+onny more than to go ashore at Chicagy an' there ye'll be murthered to
+death with one of them hand-bags, worra, worra!"
+
+If the demon of pessimism lurked by the M'Carty fireside in the person
+of Granny M'Carty, that malign influence was offset by the angel of
+optimism who brooded over the family circle under the name of Grandad
+Rafferty.
+
+Grandad, whose society was the only dowry that Bridget Rafferty had
+brought to her husband, now interposed his sweet, quavering tones.
+
+"Whist, Granny, don't be undoin' the b'y jist as he's leavin' Biddy
+an' the childer. The blessid Virgin will fetch him back all right.
+Good luck to ye, lad. Ye're a fine son to me, an' I'll mind Biddy an'
+the chicks an' look after them while ye are away."
+
+Grandad was right. He certainly would "mind" the children, for their
+lightest word was law to him. He would "look after" them, and fondly,
+too, but his feeble limbs never could follow the antics of the merry
+little brood.
+
+With a varied cargo of good wishes and gloomy forebodings, and with
+Bridget's gold ring on his finger "for luck," Michael steamed
+away,--sorrowful at leaving his dear ones, but glad that fortune
+favored his honest efforts for their comfortable support.
+
+Never had such a storm swept the lakes in spring-time as buffeted the
+poor _Go-Between_, yet untried by wind and wave. Unskilful loading
+interfered with a perfect ballast, and unseamanlike management left
+her at the mercy of the tempest.
+
+              "WENT DOWN WITH ALL ON BOARD!"
+
+was the head-line that greeted faithful Bridget M'Carty on the morning
+of that dreadful day a week after Michael had left her, and before she
+could snatch a paper her heart told her the name of the boat.
+
+Though a tireless worker, Bridget had always depended upon Michael for
+the management of their small affairs, and at first she was bewildered
+by the responsibility thrust upon her. It took time to recover from
+the shock of the sad news and to make plans and find work that would
+put bread into twelve hungry mouths. In that time the little store of
+savings was expended, for in addition to all the other troubles,
+Granny M'Carty brooded herself ill, and the doctor's bill had to be
+paid.
+
+It was soon apparent that the snug little home in which Michael had
+left his family must be abandoned for humbler quarters. Inexperienced
+in house-hunting and feeling restricted to the lowest possible rent,
+Mrs. M'Carty fell a prey to an unprincipled landlord, who induced her
+to take her flock to a ramshackle abode on the tow-path which he
+described as "quite habitable."
+
+The place had not seemed so objectionable while warm weather lasted.
+The passing canal-boats with their patient motive power afforded
+unfailing interest to the little M'Cartys by day, and the swish of the
+displaced waters lulled them to sleep at night.
+
+Viewed objectively, the place perhaps was not without attractions. "A
+real live painter" had once pitched his easel near at hand, causing a
+little M'Carty to run home breathless with the information that he had
+called their house "picturesque."
+
+When Grandad Rafferty heard this compliment to their domicile, he
+said,--"Picteresk is it? Well, that is a comfort!" But Granny M'Carty
+refused to be deceived by empty words; "Picteresk, indade! Let them
+live on that who can!"
+
+Half-covered with snow in the freezing winter weather, the picturesque
+element of the M'Carty home was lost in desolation, and on this
+December day even stout-hearted Bridget was obliged to let her
+feelings partake of the prevailing atmosphere.
+
+Salt tears trickled down the poor woman's cheeks and fell into the tub
+where she was "doin' out" the wash of some street-car conductors not
+fortunate enough to have womenfolk of their own.
+
+"Indeed," said Bridget with doleful humor, "that's all the salt water
+these poor shirts will be getting to set their color, and oh, dear! I
+wish they were Michael's."
+
+She sank down on an upturned tub and gave way to her bitter grief as
+she seldom allowed herself to do.
+
+"Sure, it's the first Christmas since my name was M'Carty that the tub
+will be upside down. The childer couldn't always spare a stocking
+apiece for hanging up, but it was many a bit they found in the tub. My
+pie, Mike used to be calling it.
+
+"And now it's him that is dead, and we've not even a meal in the
+pantry--no, nor pantry neither, and what'll become of us now?"
+
+But Mrs. M'Carty soon realized that even the luxury of time to mourn
+was denied the poor, and she controlled herself resolutely with the
+words:
+
+"There, ain't ye ashamed of yourself, Biddy M'Carty? As if it were not
+bad enough to have the trouble in your heart without grieving about it
+aloud into the bargain. Supposing the children were all dead, and
+Grandad were blind, and--and Granny were took away, and yourself were
+in the insane crazy asylum. Then would be time to be wasting in
+weeping."
+
+So, leaving tears for the pastime of lunatics, Bridget bravely
+furbished up her philosophy and brought it into use.
+
+To make up for lost time she applied herself to the shirts with such
+vigor that the very fabric was in danger of disappearing with the
+spots of dirt which she attacked. These garments must be ready as soon
+as possible, for she needed the money to which their cleansing
+entitled her.
+
+She had just sent Katy and Norah out with her last piece of work. It
+was not lucrative, being the washing for the little lame seamstress
+who could not afford to pay much, but for whom Mrs. M'Carty, with the
+generosity of the warm-hearted Irish, continued to work.
+
+The family income was somewhat augmented by the willing efforts of
+Dennis and Terence, and they were now absent in the pursuit of their
+vocation, the sale of daily newspapers.
+
+Mary and Maggie, too young to be of assistance, were quietly dressing
+up Granny's stick in a bit of tattered shawl and playing that it was a
+witch, at any moment liable to pounce on Granny and carry her off, the
+wish, perhaps, being father to the thought. Unobserved, the little
+girls were making threatening gestures behind the old lady's chair,
+indicative of her impending fate. Meantime they cast fearful glances
+toward the owner of the stick, the danger of momentary discovery
+adding pleasurable excitement to their pastime.
+
+Baby Ellen was asleep in her favorite resting-place, Grandad's arms.
+The two younger boys were making themselves unpopular by toddling back
+and forth between the living-room and the lean-to, from which latter
+place came the dull rhythm of Mrs. M'Carty's scrub, scrub, scrub on
+the wash-board.
+
+An outbreak from Granny heralded the interruption of the witch drama,
+and brought Bridget to the spot. The children were dodging behind
+Grandad's chair, while Granny poured the vials of her wrath on their
+offending heads, at the same time indulging in her favorite custom of
+throwing at them the articles within her reach. Perhaps the one
+compensation in the paucity of the furnishings of the M'Carty home was
+the limitation on the vehicles of Granny's wrath.
+
+"Och, them spalpeens!" she shouted as her daughter-in-law entered,
+"bad 'cess to them, rampin' an' rampagin' 'round till me ears is jist
+burshtin'!"
+
+Mrs. M'Carty, feeling that some one ought to be punished, and not
+thinking it quite filial to belabor her mother-in-law, caught up two
+or three of her olive branches that were recklessly waving in the air,
+and imprinted on them a few gentle reminders of maternal solicitude.
+Howls rent the air, but these were largely for effect, for Bridget had
+a whole-souled way with her in administering punishment, which left no
+lasting resentment in the objects of her discipline.
+
+Always concerned lest the correction of her grandchildren be lacking
+in severity, Granny growled:
+
+"Sthop yer whillelewin' an' phillelewin'! Ye ought to have a strap, so
+ye had!"
+
+She felt a certain satisfaction in the crisis which she had
+precipitated, but it did not temper her speech, for as soon as the
+children were quiet she broke forth.
+
+"Begorra, perhaps it's a nice Christmas we'll be havin' with the
+winter here with its searchin' cold, an' nothin' but this shanty with
+its two rooms an' lean-to, an' half the furnitoor gone to pay rent,
+an' put food in the mouths of that greedy raft of childer. An' jist
+feel my roomatiz!" her voice growing more shrill with excitement, "an'
+not a whole pane in the windy, but it's many a pain I have in me
+bones. An' I nade linnyment this minit. An' look at him settin'
+there," pointing wrathfully at Grandad Rafferty, "an' not makin'
+anybody trouble!" and she paused as if to contemplate the pleasure
+that would be afforded her to see Grandad making somebody a great deal
+of trouble.
+
+"An' there's my poor Michael," she went on, "drownded an the wather
+an' wearin' that nice gold ring on his skellington."
+
+"Oh, don't," moaned poor Bridget, putting up her hand as if to ward
+off the blow of cruel words. But Granny, finding her ravings were
+making an impression, grew more fluent.
+
+"I don't doubt me there was the price of a bottle of linnyment in that
+ring, an' more, an' ye that extravagant to be makin' him wear it when
+ye knew he'd be drowned."
+
+Bridget and Grandad were at their wit's end, as many a time before,
+for words with which to soothe the old woman. Though he inwardly
+resented this abuse of his daughter, Grandad tried as usual to pour
+oil on the seething waters.
+
+"Annyhow, Granny, it's a mercy it was a real gold ring, an' not one of
+them chape things to be gettin' all rusty in the wather."
+
+Granny flew into a more violent rage.
+
+"An' are ye insinooatin', Misther Rafferty, that my son would ever
+wear an old brass ring? I'd have ye know that real gold is none too
+good for the poor, dear b'y to be drownded in. An' I wish ye'd stop
+yer talkin', ye blatherin' omadhaun," she snapped out, and then
+relapsed into sullen silence, setting her empty pipe upside down in
+her mouth, a veritable picture of despair.
+
+[Illustration: "GRANDAD WAS SPEECHLESS"]
+
+But Granny's silence, even, could make itself felt. Grandad was
+speechless. Dear old Grandad! The sun of his cheerfulness had suffered
+no eclipse from the clouds of adversity that enveloped the M'Carty
+family. His "Marnin', honey!" and "Avenin', shure!" sounded as
+pleasantly as ever. When he had bread he ate it thankfully, and when
+there was none he said that his "sthomick had a sort of full feelin'
+of itsilf."
+
+[Illustration: "'AN' ARE YE INSINOOATIN', MISTHER RAFFERTY'"]
+
+He was a constant comfort to his daughter, but the sweetness of his
+spirit was gall and wormwood to Granny. If there is one thing more
+exasperating than another to a caustic temperament, it is the constant
+companionship of a bland and optimistic disposition. In Granny's case
+the necessity of maintaining both sides of a quarrel kept her tongue
+sharpened to a piercing point.
+
+After a moment's quiet, Mrs. M'Carty slipped the pipe out of Granny's
+mouth and returned it to her filled. It was accepted, though
+thanklessly. With a smile and an understanding nod to her father,
+Bridget returned to her tubs.
+
+She finished her washing and put things to rights. Then she drew from
+a box where she kept a few things from Granny's prying eyes, her sorry
+Christmas presents,--some pictures cut from an illustrated paper and
+pasted on squares of cardboard.
+
+"The poor darlings," she said. "I can't even be buying them trifling
+presents. I must be saving every penny, for the first of the month is
+coming, and the agent, bad 'cess to him, will be here to lift the
+rent. An' these poor picters is all I've got for Christmas for the
+biggest ones, and nothing at all for the next size, and the same for
+the middlest size and the littlest ones, and never a thing for the
+baby. I most wish I'd let little Patsy keep the ball he stole from the
+Wilkeson boy."
+
+The strain of the recent encounter had told on Mrs. M'Carty's usually
+steady nerves, and her inability to contribute to her children's
+holiday enjoyment filled her with sudden resentment.
+
+"I suppose them Barneys up on Fifth Street will every one of them be
+strutting and ballyragging 'round with gewgaws, and fixings, and such
+like things. Faith, they'll need them to be making themselves look
+decent, so they will. Truth, every single one of them Barneys has more
+freckles than I could find on my whole nine together, if I searched
+with a candle. And why can't they be having what they're after
+wanting! Anybody can buy that has money."
+
+Bridget laid the pictures back in the box.
+
+"You can stay there," she said, closing the cover. "It will never do
+to be giving something to one and nothing to the rest of them. Bedad,
+I'd like to put my eye on a dollar once. It's always to be watching a
+cent that makes a body short-sighted."
+
+
+
+
+_Third Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGÄRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT TEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY
+BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+It was Herr Baumgärtner's habit to open his mouth almost as prudently
+as his purse, but when at ten o'clock one of his clerks returned
+without the amount of the bill he had been sent out to collect, the
+baker lost patience.
+
+"You cannot get dat moneys! Haf you said how I must pay my insurance,
+and all der clerks in dis big store, and all der extras for Christmas?
+How will I pay for dem if my moneys comes not back again? Haf you said
+how I must haf it?"
+
+The clerk explained that he had told Mr. Weiss, the debtor, all this
+and that he had said he would pay, without fail, the first of the next
+month.
+
+"Next mont'!" cried the indignant baker. "He haf told me dat same
+t'ing six times already! First he write he will send it next mont';
+den he say, 'Soon as my interest is due I will pay;' next times, 'My
+wife she is sick and you must wait yet a little while.' Go tell him I
+vill haf dat moneys dis day!"
+
+The clerk departed as he was bidden. The baker shook his head angrily.
+
+"Ach, dose peoples! I haf no patience mit dem. In Germany Fritz Weiss
+was dat honest and goot. It is all along of his wife. She must haf one
+fine house, and dere girls such clot'es,--like one Baronin,--vich is
+bad for dem, and for my Katrina too, ven she know of it. Bewahre, dat
+my Katrina should so dress. Yet I haf die means and Fritz he haf not.
+So foolish a wife he haf. Gott sei Dank! My blessed wife war nicht so.
+She had always so much goot sense, and dose girls are not like my
+Katrina. Nein, I haf not seen one Mädchen like mein Katrina, immer
+sehr schön und gut."
+
+At this moment Herr Baumgärtner looked out of his office and saw his
+Katrina entering the store.
+
+"Ach, dere is mein Katrina. She makes me always glad ven I see her,"
+he mused, watching her with loving eyes as she came through the store.
+
+Katrina was a picture to delight other eyes than those of her father.
+A mass of wavy, flaxen hair framed a face of rare tints of pink and
+pearl. Beautiful blue eyes she had, eyes that could be trustful or
+merry under their long lashes, while the sweet, smiling mouth with its
+full-arched upper lip was not the least of Katrina's charms. When one
+looked at her it was like beholding the vision of some bewitching,
+Saxon princess.
+
+Herr Baumgärtner was not burdened with a large family, for he had only
+this one daughter, so it would seem that Katrina Baumgärtner might
+have advantages denied many of her companions. She had rather unusual
+advantages, for while her girl friends were learning to paint
+uncertain flowers, and to entertain with equally dubious musical
+accomplishments, Katrina's father had insisted that his daughter must
+learn the art of the housewife.
+
+As Katrina passed through the store she had a word or a nod of
+recognition for each busy clerk, and for the customers whom she knew.
+She stopped to leave a small package with Max Schaub for his little
+lame August; and when George Reigel's sick Freda opened her box on
+Christmas morning she was to find a doll that Miss Katrina's artful
+fingers had dressed.
+
+When Katrina's mother was alive she had taught her child, through
+years of precept and example, an uncommon interpretation of the
+holiday giving,--that the family and friends were not to be thought of
+until many a Christmas surprise had been planned for the needy and
+unexpectant. The baker himself came in for a share of the waves of
+gratitude that swept toward his home at each holiday season, though
+this tide of good feeling was largely due to his thoughtful daughter.
+
+[Illustration: "AS KATRINA PASSED THROUGH THE STORE"]
+
+Katrina felt the blessedness of giving, but just now she had other
+joys, as well, to keep her heart aglow. She was at the age when most
+girls have considerable liberty in their personal affairs, but this
+was not the case with Katrina.
+
+Herr Baumgärtner settled the questions of his household with the same
+attention and decision that he gave to his business. Consequently his
+daughter was a frequent visitor at her father's store, where she came
+to consult him on the trivial as well as upon the most important
+questions pertaining to their domestic concerns.
+
+When she presented herself before Herr Baumgärtner's desk on this
+morning before Christmas, he greeted her with his usual question on
+such occasions:
+
+"Was willst du, Katrinchen?"
+
+"Something nice this time, Vater. The big snow-storm has come just in
+time for Christmas, you know, and I am invited to a sleigh-ride
+party to-night. I may go, may I not?"
+
+[Illustration: "'I MAY GO, MAY I NOT?'"]
+
+"A sleigh-ride den?" and he smiled and said, "Only once is one
+young!--But who asked you to go on dat sleigh-ride?"
+
+"Johann Hermann asked me this morning," replied Katrina, blushing a
+little, "but I told him I must first ask you."
+
+"Ach, so! Vat for a man is der Johann dat of a morning he comes to ask
+you, Tochterchen? Vat does he?"
+
+"He keeps books, Father, and he stopped on his way to his work. He
+came just after you had gone this morning, and he will come at noon to
+see if I may go."
+
+"Is he son of dat Herr Frederick Hermann dat knows not so much to
+stick to one job steady?"
+
+"Oh, no, Father, he is not like that," protested Katrina, earnestly.
+"He told me this morning that he meant to work hard while he was young
+so that he might earn money enough to be able to rest when he is old.
+He said he knew a man who had made a bank account that way, and he
+meant to do it too."
+
+"Nun, gut,--dat man he means might be me, Katrina," said Herr
+Baumgärtner, with a little glance of pride at his inner man.
+
+"He did not say it was you, Vater, but he is a good young man and I
+know you will like him. And I may go?"
+
+Herr Baumgärtner found it very hard to refuse Katrina anything, and
+when he felt obliged to do so he consoled himself with the reflection:
+
+"It causes me sorrow not to give her everyt'ings, but it is better for
+her."
+
+However, he felt that this was not the time for the discipline of
+self-denial, so he gave his consent.
+
+"Ja wohl, to-night kannst du, Katrinchen."
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you, Father," and she gave his arm an
+affectionate squeeze as together they passed out of the office.
+
+"Doesn't the store look fine, and how good everything smells," said
+Katrina, delighting in the spicy odors. But Katrina was in a mood to
+be delighted with anything.
+
+"So much thoughts, so great work, das ist," replied her father,
+looking at the exemplification of the law of supply and demand going
+on steadily before them, and added, "but die trade goes well dis
+year."
+
+"That is good, and when all is sold to-night that will be sold before
+the Christmas you will not forget the cakes and goodies for my poor
+little ones for to-morrow, will you? I have some of my Christmas money
+saved to pay for them, but I must have a great many for my money, five
+times as much as I could get with it anywhere else, or I will not buy
+here any more, Herr Papa," said Katrina roguishly.
+
+"Ach, Katrina, vy t'row so goot stuff away on dose children? Dey know
+not der value. I tell you it is joost one big waste."
+
+Katrina was too wise to argue with her father even if he would have
+permitted, and she knew that she would get her cakes in spite of his
+grumbling. Turning she saw the table with its array of Christmas
+puddings.
+
+"Oh, what beautiful puddings!" she exclaimed. "Would they not make
+such a handsome window with a bit of Christmas holly on each of them?"
+
+"Ja, so dose puddings would make one splendit window, Liebchen," said
+the baker. "So much eggs, und raisins, und currants, und spices, und
+wine dey took, und six hours to cook each one. But dey will keep a
+year."
+
+"And are they all sold?" asked Katrina.
+
+"Nein, nein, Katrina, we sell not one of dose puddings."
+
+"Not sell them, Father! Are you going to give them away?"
+
+"Katrina, Katrina, you remember not anyt'ings to-day. At home haf I
+not said how I send out one puddings each to mein best customers, and
+on die card my compliments?" and Herr Baumgärtner straightened himself
+proudly.
+
+"Oh, that is so. I had forgotten," said Katrina. "But if I were going
+to give them away I would not send them to rich people who have money
+to buy them. I would send them to poor people who never have such
+treats."
+
+"Katrina, you know not business. You t'ink der fisherman he put dat
+worm on dat hook to feed der fish, eh? Den how come all dose fish at
+night in his basket?"
+
+Katrina never let any differences with her father stare her out of
+countenance, so as he turned toward his office she followed him.
+
+"I nearly forgot one thing I wanted, Father. May I have a cake to send
+to the Widow M'Carty? She is the woman who washes for us sometimes,
+you know."
+
+"Lieber Himmel! Vy should I send to the Widow M'Carty one cake? Nein,
+Katrina. Should I gif everyt'ing away? Vat mit der baskets for dose
+orphan asylums yet, I am like one big Santa Clauses already."
+
+"But Mrs. M'Carty has nine little children, Vater--"
+
+"Maype she has, I care not. I feed not so many people's nine
+children."
+
+"Oh, Father, this will be such a sad Christmas for the poor woman. It
+is not a year, yet, since her husband was drowned. And think of those
+nine little M'Cartys with no dear, kind, handsome papa like
+mine,"--Herr Baumgärtner's features relaxed a little,--"and you've
+often told me when Grossvater Baumgärtner went to Hirschberg with you
+and the little Hans that died, how that kind man--"
+
+"Dere, dere, Katrina," broke in Herr
+
+Baumgärtner in an unsteady voice. "Take dot cake, and I hope it will
+not choke dose M'Cartys mit der strangeness of eating anyt'ing so
+goot."
+
+
+
+
+_Fourth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE SIX O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+Despite the many mechanical operations performed upon the family clock
+by the little M'Cartys, it ticked away the minutes, and the hours, and
+the days faithfully. Even on this special Christmas Eve when the
+fortunes of its owners seemed at their very lowest ebb, it did not so
+much as moderate its voice or slacken its movements. When the hour
+arrived that its long hand should point straight upward and its short
+hand straight downward, the bells of the city began to ring, and the
+whistles of the city began to blow, announcing, with much clamor and
+discordance, that another day of labor was ended.
+
+At the shriek of the first whistle Grandad Rafferty, who sat by the
+fire with baby Ellen on his knee, looked up at the clock and nodded to
+it approvingly.
+
+"Arrah now, ye little leprechaune that works while the rest do be
+shlapin', ye're tellin' the truth same as ever, for it's time for them
+that's workin' to be sthoppin'. I mind when I was young an' sphry how
+glad I was to lave me workin' an' run home to me swate Maggie, God
+rest her soul! And when she see me comin' over the hill, she'd be
+steppin' down the lane to mate me. And afther supper I'd smoke me
+dudheen whilst Maggie redded up the cabin and then--"
+
+"True for ye," broke in Granny M'Carty from her seat on the opposite
+side of the fire. She could not abide Grandad Rafferty's
+reminiscences, for they recalled to her the happy days in the old
+country,--the place to which her heart turned ever with longing,
+though she never expected to put foot again on its green turf. "It's
+ye that would sit and smoke an' yer Maggie workin' her legs off
+slavin' for yez. Och, it's the men have the aisy time in this life,
+but it's them same, I'm thinkin', that will pay for it by a longer
+sthop in purgatory, and I hope they will, so I do."
+
+"Indade, now, Mrs. M'Carty," began Grandad Rafferty, soothingly,
+"sure, the men have--"
+
+"Indade, then, they have not!" contradicted Granny. "Look at them men
+that's goin' home this minit,"--waving her hand as if toward a
+procession of laborers passing before her. "What have they to do? In
+the mornin' they're off with a fine lunch in their pails, an' never a
+bed to make, or a floor to swape, or a childer to clane, or a male to
+be cookin'. It's the womin must sthay at home and mind all that. And
+when they're home at night they'll eat their supper an' likely grumble
+at it, then sit at their ease an' smoke. Troth, if I had the word--"
+
+"Musha, musha, Mrs. M'Carty!" said Grandad. "Ye're clane forgettin'
+the men work hard all day, that the womin may sthay safe at home with
+their jewels of childers."
+
+"Jewels of childers, indade!" exclaimed Granny, her attention turned
+to a new grievance. "Them kind of jewels poor folks could do well
+withoot."
+
+"Listen to that now, Ellen, me jewel," said Grandad Rafferty,
+addressing himself to the baby on his knee. "Listen, but don't ye
+belave a worrd ye're hearin'. Yer Granny would not part with yez for
+long money. Would ye, Mrs. M'Carty? An' is she not ev'ry bit as fine a
+child as yer Michael when he wor a baby?"
+
+"Me Michael--may the Hivens be his bed--had the sense to be born a
+b'y, an' there was but two of him, an' here's yer grandchilder
+springin' up like blades of the grass for number. Oh, Michael,
+Michael," wailed Granny, "if ye could only see yer old mither now,
+'tis not aisy ye'd rest in yer grave if ye had a grave, which ye
+haven't, worse luck. Here I be, with never a dacent bit or sup, me
+that in the old counthry had bacon with me praties an' a fine shawl
+fer Sunday," and at this point Granny began to weep.
+
+"Whist now, whist, Granny!" cried Mrs. M'Carty, coming in from the
+lean-to where she had been to bestow the insignia of her office, her
+board and tubs. "Don't be grieving with yerself. I'll make the supper
+an' ye'll feel better when ye have something warm in yer stomick. It's
+not much we have, but when Dinny and Terence grow a bit more--"
+
+"Grow is it?" exclaimed Granny, finding in Bridget's words another
+source of wrath. "Ye'd betther be prayin' the saints to kape thim from
+growin'. Their clothes is far too small fer their size this minit."
+
+"Now Granny, it's yerself knows me prayers won't keep them boys from
+growing, but it's hoping I am that the clothes will come with their
+bigness."
+
+"That's like yer foolishness, Bridget M'Carty," retorted Granny. "It's
+ye that is always expectin' somethin' betther the morrow. It's the
+worst ye should be lookin' for, so it is, for it's that ye'll be
+afther gettin', more like."
+
+"Now Granny," replied Mrs. M'Carty, "it's never a minit I'll be
+wasting getting ready for troubles, for when troubles come they're a
+different sort entirely than them you do be ready for."
+
+At this moment the door, true to its habit of flying open at any and
+all times, swung briskly on its hinges, and admitted Denny and Terence
+returned from their sale of evening papers. Terence carried a small
+package while Denny waved aloft a branch of evergreen which he had
+rescued from the street.
+
+"Look every one of you and see what Terence is after bringing," cried
+Denny.
+
+"Ye've left the door open on me poor old bones," complained Granny.
+
+Five little M'Cartys sprang to shut the door.
+
+"It's samples I have--enough for the whole of us," said Terence,
+proudly displaying the contents of his bundle. "And it's a bit of milk
+you put with it and it's cooked. I seen them on the counter when I ran
+in a grocery to warm my fingers. 'Take one,' the card said, and I
+asked the clerk an' he says, 'Take two, you'll be a good advertisement
+for it.'"
+
+"Wheat Krakle, it is," said Denny, taking up one of the samples and
+reading the label. "Better than meat, and more n-o-u nur, r-i ri,
+s-h-i-n-g shing, nourishing, whatever that may be. And I says to
+Terence, 'what's two of them with twelve of us?' and says I, 'let's
+ask 'round and get one apiece,' and here you have them."
+
+Granny who, before the opening of the package, had hoped it might
+contain a "bit o' bacon, or a dhrawin' o' tay," of which luxuries she
+had been deprived for some time, leaned back in her chair with a
+groan.
+
+"Och hone, it's just one more of them new aitin's to sphile my
+stomick," she said. "May the devil fly away with them that makes them.
+Sure along with them haythinish sthuffs I've ate since poor Michael
+died on us, me insides feel like Brian O'Connell's oatfield in the old
+counthry, an' that same was half-bog an' half-bushes, bad scran to
+it!"
+
+"Now then, Mrs. M'Carty," said Grandad Rafferty, as usual finding some
+good in everything, "have ye no thought how ye're savin' yer teeth
+with these new aitin's that shlip down so aisy ye're not to the
+throuble of chewin' them?"
+
+But Granny was not to be mollified, and she refused to sit down with
+either of the relays of the family which gathered at the tiny table
+and partook of the food that was "Better than meat and far more
+nourishing."
+
+Supper being over and the dishes hastily washed by Katy, the four
+elder M'Cartys were allowed to set forth for an evening walk to admire
+the festive preparations for the morrow's holiday,--a holiday in the
+pleasures of which they had no hope of sharing. Four more M'Cartys
+were despatched to their humble couches, two of them, owing to
+Granny's faultfinding, having been spanked vigorously before being
+turned over to the arms of Morpheus. After all, perhaps the latter
+pair were the ones to be envied, as the heat thus engendered made the
+scantiness of the bedding less apparent.
+
+Granny M'Carty in the easiest chair and Grandad Rafferty in the next
+easiest, sat in silence on either side of the little stove that did
+double duty as heater and cooker. Presently they both fell nodding,
+and in their dreams wandered away to the green fields of Erin, living
+over again in their visions the days of their vanished youth.
+
+[Illustration: "TO ADMIRE THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS"]
+
+Now that there was no immediate need for action, Mrs. M'Carty gathered
+the little Ellen in her arms and sank down on a stool behind the
+stove. And as she sat there Memory came and stood by her and pointed
+back to other and happier Christmas Eves when she and Michael had made
+many a plan to delight the hearts of their numerous brood. The plans
+were simple enough, to be sure, but the children were too healthily
+happy to be critical. She recalled the rare Christmas Day when turkey
+had graced their board, and Michael, in Sunday attire, had sat at the
+head of the table and labored manfully with the unfamiliar joints of
+the holiday bird.
+
+[Illustration: "AND AS SHE SAT THERE MEMORY CAME AND STOOD BY HER"]
+
+"And now," her thought coming back to the present, "I've nothing for
+them children, barring the matter of a stick of candy that's hardly
+worth the mentioning, and for the Christmas eatings I've nought but a
+handful of apples the grocer gave Katy the morning, and a few
+potatoes, scarce enough for two apiece. And winter that long and
+dreary, and just my two hands to earn the bread to keep the souls in
+the whole of us. Oh, worra, worra, whatever shall I do without my
+Michael?" and Bridget, feeling herself practically alone, for Grandad
+and Granny still slumbered peacefully, gave vent to her feelings in a
+heavy sigh. The sound, however, was loud enough to rouse Grandad, who,
+in his assumed office of comforter-in-general to the M'Carty family,
+was ever on the alert to perform his duties. He leaned forward and
+looked anxiously into Bridget's face.
+
+"Biddy, darling," he cried, "sure ye're not grievin' on the blessid
+Christmas Eve? It's hard for yez with Michael dead an' gone, but
+grievin' won't bring him back. Think of them that ye have left,--them
+fine childers, an' Granny there. An' ye've me, but the saints know
+ye're betther off withoot me, that am just a care to yez and that lame
+I can't even lift a finger to help yez."
+
+"Now Grandad," cried Bridget, "it's I that am ashamed of you, I am,
+you that are a comfort, every minit, and no care to be speaking
+about. And I wasn't forgetting the children, either. They do be plenty
+of care, so they do, but they give a body a deal of comfort, and not a
+finger of them could I spare. And Granny there, sure she does be a bit
+cross now and then along with her rheumatism, but it keeps a body from
+thinking of worse things when she do be telling the faults of us. And
+when she's sleeping so sweet-like as she do be now, she's never a bit
+of care or worry. No, Daddy, it was of my hard work I was thinking,
+and wondering how I'd get enough to keep us alive this freezing
+winter."
+
+"Troth, now listen, Biddy!" said Grandad, ready with his word of
+cheer. "I was just afther dreamin' of a red hen, an' whenever I dream
+of a red hen, it's good news I'm soon hearin'."
+
+Granny awoke just in time to hear the last sentence.
+
+"Is it a hen ye dreamed ye were?" she queried. "It's because of eatin'
+that stuff that's not good for the hens, that gave yez them bad
+dreams."
+
+Then another phase of the cereal question presenting itself she turned
+to Mrs. M'Carty.
+
+"Bridget M'Carty, is it them same hen aitin's ye're givin' us for our
+dinner the morrow? Tell me that now?"
+
+So unexpectedly questioned as to her resources for the morrow's
+provisions, Bridget was startled into the admission that there was
+nothing in store save a few potatoes and the gift of apples; and the
+apples, like most gifts to the poor, could not be inspected too
+closely.
+
+"And it's all from my never getting pay for my washing. Not a penny
+did they give Katy, and me telling her to wait. Whatever they do be
+thinking a poor woman is washing their clothes for I do'no. To keep
+her hands red and sore, and her back just breaking with the bending
+over the tub, belike. I was to be getting two dollars, and now they'll
+be waiting till after Christmas to pay, and it's us will be waiting
+till after Christmas to eat. Sure it's just nothing we have to expect
+for our Christmas dinner, bedad."
+
+"Well, there now, honey," said Grandad Rafferty, undismayed at the
+prospect of a dinnerless day. "We'll never mind all that, for them
+that's expectin' nothin' will never have disappointment to be
+mournin'."
+
+Granny M'Carty, on hearing Bridget's recital broke forth into genuine
+Irish lamentations such as she had not indulged in since the news of
+Michael's untimely death, her wailings interspersed with the most
+direful prophecies of what was in store for the family.
+
+
+
+
+_Fifth Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGÄRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT SEVEN-THIRTY ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+It had been a very busy day in the Baumgärtner bakery, and now as the
+old Dutch clock on the wall struck seven, the clerks were flying
+hither and thither, wrapping up packages and plumping them into
+baskets, trying to get everything on their last loads, and at the same
+time to give polite service to the many customers coming and going.
+
+The Christmas puddings had not yet been delivered, but reposed in all
+their fruity richness on the white-covered table in the rear of the
+store, and exhaled such delicious odors that the whole air was
+permeated with what seemed the very essence of Christmas.
+
+The door opened, and this time Katrina Baumgärtner entered. In spite
+of the rush of business all the clerks stopped long enough to look at
+Miss Katrina, who had a smile and a "Merry Christmas!" for each. They
+felt very kindly toward the bright girl who took such an interest in
+their families; who remembered to ask after Mrs. Reiman's asthma, and
+Grandfather Potter's rheumatism, and who often sent delicacies to
+their invalids.
+
+"I forgot all about the cake for the Widow M'Carty's children," she
+explained, "so I came early to get it. I will mark it, and you won't
+forget to see that it is delivered, will you?" she asked, beaming on
+all the clerks at once.
+
+Every clerk declared that Mrs. M'Carty should have her Christmas cake
+if it had to be taken to her in person.
+
+"Katrina, stay here one leetle while and help your Vater," said the
+baker as Katrina stopped before his desk, where he was busy making
+entries in a large ledger. "You vos joost in time. Dere is dose
+puddings. Wrap dem in dose papers and set dem on dot table by der
+door oudt. Hans Kleinhardt comes soon mit der cards. Den he takes
+dose puddings and sends dem away."
+
+"Oh, father," cried Katrina in dismay, "I haven't time. I just came
+down to get the cake for the Widow M'Carty's children, and the
+sleigh-ride party will call for me here in a few minutes. Couldn't one
+of the clerks do it?"
+
+"Nein, nein, Katrina, dose clerks have too much business already. If
+you vants dot cake for dose M'Cartys, den you wrop up dose puddings
+right away queek. No vork, no play, mein Katrina."
+
+Katrina slipped off her cloak and went to work. The first pudding had
+been wrapped up when the sound of bells was heard mingled with the
+shouts of happy voices. She hastened to the door, but found it was not
+her sleigh-ride party after all, and was returning to her task when
+she remembered the cake for the Widow. Selecting a round loaf with
+nuts and candied fruits dotted over the frosted surface, she took it
+back with her to the table, did it up, and set it on the shelf behind
+her. Taking a card, she wrote:
+
+    "To Mrs. Michael M'Carty
+    with a Merry Christmas
+    from
+    Katrina Baumgärtner,"
+
+and was about to place it on the cake when another jingle of bells was
+heard. Catching up the pudding, she hurried again to the front of the
+store, set the pudding on the table, and, unwittingly, dropped beside
+it the card bearing the Widow M'Carty's name. She opened the door, but
+the sleigh with its merry load passed on, and Katrina returned to her
+enforced labors.
+
+Max Schaub was collecting the last parcels for his load when he
+chanced to see the package on the table. He picked up the card and
+read,--"Mrs. Michael M'Carty."
+
+"Bless her sweet eyes,"--meaning Katrina, not the widow,--"'Tis I will
+see that this cake gets to the Widow M'Carty's children. Does she not
+ask after the leg of my lame August as if it were her very
+own,"--meaning Katrina, not the widow,--"and in my coat pocket have I
+not the singing-box she has sent him for Christmas,--and she with nine
+small kinder, too?"--meaning the widow, not Katrina.
+
+Thus soliloquizing, he marked a basket in which he deposited the
+pudding, and gave it to his driver, telling him to leave it at the
+widow's on the way back to the store.
+
+[Illustration: "HE PICKED UP THE CARD AND READ"]
+
+Katrina tied up the second pudding and placed it on the table from
+which the first had been removed just as Clerk Reiman entered the
+door. Remembering Katrina's request, he went to the table, and reading
+the card, concluded that the package beside it contained the cake
+destined to make happy the nine small children of the Widow M'Carty.
+He put it in a basket, marked it for the widow, and gave it to his
+special driver, who was just starting off with his load.
+
+Katrina's mind was on the anticipated joys of the evening, and she
+performed her task mechanically, thinking all the time of Johann and
+longing for the arrival of the sleighing party.
+
+Ten more puddings were enveloped in their wrappings of lace-edged
+tissue paper; ten more puddings were deposited, one by one, on the
+table in the front of the store; ten more clerks, seeing the card
+beside a package,--for each in his hurry forgot to drop the card in
+his basket,--consigned a pudding to the care of his own driver,
+charging him to deliver it, without fail, to the Widow M'Carty with a
+"Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumgärtner."
+
+Katrina had wrapped up the last pudding, when the sound of a horn, a
+chorus of voices, and the music of sleigh-bells caused her to run to
+the door once more. She opened it to come face to face with the
+gallant Johann. Joyfully donning her wraps, she hastened away to join
+the sleighing party, leaving the thirteenth pudding to its fate.
+
+A few moments later the baker came out of his office, and seeing the
+puddings gone, nodded his head with satisfaction and said:
+
+"Dot Hans was one goot man. Him I haf nefer to vatch. He does joost
+vot I tells him, effery time already."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But where was the faithful Hans Kleinhardt who was personally
+responsible for the safe delivery of those thirteen puddings?
+
+His supper finished, Hans was hastening back to the store with the
+important cards in his pocket. A shout, a scurrying to avoid a runaway
+horse, a hurt man, a crowd, an ambulance,--and Hans Kleinhardt,
+unconscious of all around him, was on his way to the City Hospital.
+
+[Illustration: "WAS ON HIS WAY TO THE CITY HOSPITAL"]
+
+An hour later a surgeon, with an air of satisfaction, said to a quiet
+little nurse:
+
+"A beautiful fracture,--compound,--man in good condition,--will
+recover nicely,--but don't let him talk for twenty-four hours."
+
+And in that man's pocket lay thirteen cards, and _they_ never said a
+word.
+
+
+
+
+_Sixth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE EIGHT O'CLOCK CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+Every ill known or imagined by the pessimistic Granny had been voiced
+in graphic predictions, but at last even her vocabulary of grumblings
+was exhausted, and she hobbled off to her pallet,--the thump, thump,
+thump of her cane beating a resentful retreat.
+
+Grandad still sat in his corner, and Bridget left her uncomfortable
+seat and dropped into Granny's vacant chair.
+
+"Sure, it ain't much like Christmas Eve I'm thinkin'," she said,
+glancing at Grandad. "There's the difference in the look of things
+since Mike, me darling, is gone--him that always went into town, when
+he stayed home the day before Christmas, to buy presents for me an'
+the childer. I remimber, yes, I do, 'cause I aint forgot it yet, the
+elligant bonnit he bought me wanst. What with feathers standing this
+way an' that, I was the fine lady of all Fifth Street."
+
+"Ye wor that," answered Grandad, looking up with a twinkle in his kind
+gray eyes. "Ye wor that, Bridget, me girl, an' ye're the same this
+day, fithers or no fithers."
+
+"It's the feathers makes the bird, Daddy," sighed Bridget, but his
+pleasant word softened the despairing look on her care-worn face.
+
+"Fithers makes the birds, did ye say, Bridget?" continued Grandad.
+"What kind of rasonin' is that, sure? Nivir a fither have I seen that
+was not projuced by wan bird or anither. An' what difference does it
+make what kind of fithers a bird has whin he's picked, tell me that?
+For me taste, a bird is betther withoot fithers at all, at all."
+
+"Ah, well," said Bridget, "it's you that have the cheery word,
+Grandad, and it's good to hear, but to-night I'm that beat out I
+couldn't throw a stick at Dooley if he came to the door this minit."
+Mrs. M'Carty looked about the room, so scant with furniture and so
+cheerless.
+
+[Illustration: "'A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KATRINA BAUMGÄRTNER!'"]
+
+"It's no use trying--" she began, but at that moment a knock that
+fairly rattled the whole shanty called her to the door. It also woke
+up Granny M'Carty, who thrust her head from the bedclothes and peered
+into the kitchen.
+
+"'Tis a mistake," she growled as a round package was handed to her
+daughter, and a strange voice said:
+
+"A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumgärtner!"
+
+"'Tis a mistake, I say," she continued, as the delivery boy
+disappeared in the darkness, and Mrs. M'Carty, with hands trembling
+from excitement, carried the mysterious package to the lean-to.
+
+"Indeed, then, and it's no mistake," she whispered to herself as she
+opened the package and disclosed to view a beautiful Christmas
+pudding. "It's Miss Katrina, the darling, that's remembered us this
+night. One, two, three," she counted, as in imagination she divided
+the gift among the little M'Cartys. "Four, five, six,--sure, I must be
+more sparing of my pieces,--but bless the sweet Ellen, she can't eat
+any, and I'm not needing any myself,--but Grandad, and Granny, they
+must have a bit;--seven, eight, nine,--it's a trifle small, to be
+sure, but enough for a taste for the darlings. If Granny hadn't heard
+the boy, what a fine surprise I'd have for her; but she'll be wanting
+to know what the likes of me is getting for Christmas. She's that
+curious, she sleeps with her other eye open just to be seeing what she
+can hear. But I'll be letting her think it was a mistake, so I will."
+
+Bang! whack! bang! another thundering noise shook the rickety door.
+
+"I told you it was a mistake," screamed Granny. "He's come to take it
+away from yez."
+
+[Illustration: "SHE PLACED BOTH PUDDINGS IN HER APRON"]
+
+Mrs. M'Carty's heart sank. The gift evidently was a mistake.
+Concealing the pudding, divested of its wrappings, under her apron,
+she hastened to the door, to be handed another package with the same
+Christmas greeting from Miss Katrina Baumgärtner.
+
+Quick-witted and anxious to deceive the keen eyes and ears of old
+Granny, she placed both puddings in her apron, and with an audible
+sigh and lament that "poor folks couldn't have even the things that
+was give to them," she returned with renewed pleasure to her problem
+in division.
+
+"Sure," said she, "I must begin my count all over. It's Miss Katrina,
+bless her sweet eyes, knew one pudding for eleven of us would be just
+a bite. Now it's two puddings for eleven of us. I wish I had a
+yardstick and a 'rithmetic to measure them, so I do.
+
+"It's Christmas Eve after all," she continued, regarding with pleasure
+the two plump puddings, but the sound of approaching footsteps caused
+her to start again in fear that it might be as Granny had prophesied,
+all a mistake. She slipped quietly to the door and reached it in time
+to avert the knock which might have aroused Granny from her dozing.
+
+"A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumgärtner," shouted a jolly boy as
+he placed a package in Mrs. M'Carty's hands. There was no mistaking
+this greeting, nor the contents of the parcel.
+
+"How many be she a-sending?" she whispered cautiously, and added by
+way of explanation, "The darlings is asleep, and I wouldn't want them
+to be knowing what a fine Christmas is coming for them."
+
+"Vell, vell, ain'dt one enough?" laughed the boy as he disappeared
+puddingless, leaving the bewildered Mrs. M'Carty in possession of the
+third treasure.
+
+"Now Grandad is nodding, and it's meself that's thinking there's no
+telling how many more Santa Clauses is coming to the M'Carty roof
+this night. I'll just take the light into the lean-to, and busy myself
+with a few pieces to fold down for my ironing; and if any more
+presents do be coming, they'll be taking them to the other door. Then
+Granny won't be hearing what's going on at all, at all."
+
+The removal of the light proved a wise precaution, though done in
+innocence of the avalanche of puddings which was fatefully descending
+upon the M'Carty household.
+
+Greater and greater was the surprise of the widow as pudding after
+pudding, and pudding after pudding was handed in, until twelve goodly
+brown concoctions graced her impromptu table,--a long white
+ironing-board.
+
+"Sure, I'm that excited, I'm fit to tie up," laughed Mrs. M'Carty, as
+she viewed the bounty of the unsuspecting Katrina. "Twelve puddings
+for twelve of us, even one for little Ellen. It ain't such a sum as I
+minded. Blessings on Miss Katrina,--may the saints have her in their
+keeping,--we've a pudding apiece this Christmas. It's thankful I am,
+and I'm not complaining, but I could' a' wished she'd tried a little
+variety. Bedad, if there wasn't so many of them, they'd seem to be
+more, so they would."
+
+
+
+
+_Seventh Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGÄRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT TEN O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+It was ten o'clock on Christmas Eve, and had it not been for the
+holiday decorations, Baker Baumgärtner's establishment would have
+presented a somewhat forlorn appearance. The shelves, which earlier in
+the day were filled with bread, cakes, and confections of all kinds,
+were now almost bereft of their store, and the whole aspect of the
+place was disorderly and confused. Boxes and baskets, papers and
+strings cluttered every available corner. The clerks and drivers,
+congratulating themselves that they were finishing so early in the
+evening, had just begun the task of clearing up, when the baker
+entered the store.
+
+"Donnerwetter!" he exclaimed, on seeing the untidy interior. "Vat a
+looking place is dis! Oh, vell, I tink I can stand it ven it fills my
+pockets mit moneys."
+
+He stepped behind the brass screen that kept possible intruders at a
+respectful distance from the money-drawer. Opening it, he found that
+the contents of the drawer had grown very perceptibly during his
+absence, and he surveyed his gains with a feeling of deep
+self-gratulation.
+
+The Widow M'Carty's cake and the thirteen puddings must have been
+bread cast upon the waters that day, and so rich was the quality it
+had returned at once, many fold.
+
+"Der Widow M'Carty's cake, and der orphans' t'ings were nodings," he
+soliloquized. "But dose puddings! Dere was gut rich stuff in dose, but
+I got plenty moneys, I can spare dose puddings to my customers ven I
+gets dem back sometime all right."
+
+Looking through his change window, he saw his clerks, who evidently
+had made their employer's interests their own, busily rearranging
+everything before going home, and transforming the chaotic condition
+of the store into one of order. The fact of their fidelity was very
+manifest, and may have reminded him of all the pleasures of Christmas
+Eve which they had forfeited in consequence of his extra holiday
+trade. According to his custom, he must bestow on each a Christmas
+remembrance, but it was not in the spirit of a cheerful giver that he
+contemplated the act.
+
+"Himmel!" he said under his breath. "Twelve clerks and twelve drivers,
+and Hans Kleinhardt, my head man, besides all dose bakers. It makes me
+poor ven I am joost rich," and he sighed regretfully at the thought.
+
+The widow's cake and the thirteen puddings, although his voluntary
+gift, had not been spared without a wrench, and now to be confronted
+with the necessity of adding to them was too much for human
+nature,--or at least for Baumgärtner nature. He turned as if
+addressing some one over his shoulder,--probably his good angel,
+whose winged company is especially active on Christmas Eve,--and
+muttered reproachfully, "You expect me to be one Santa Claus again?"
+
+However, he knew that he could not escape his kind intent, and being
+withal a just man, yielded with a sigh.
+
+From the money-drawer he took a crisp five-dollar bill, laid it on the
+desk before him, and regarded it thoughtfully. The longer he looked at
+it the harder it seemed to part with twenty-four of them, and with an
+emphatic shake of the head he thrust it back again. He next selected a
+bright silver dollar, but, true to his better nature, he acknowledged
+its insufficiency, and swept it after the five-dollar bill. His third
+move was a compromise. He took twenty-four two-dollar bills, looked at
+them for a moment regretfully, then gathered them in his hand and
+walked toward where the clerks were just finishing and locking up for
+the night.
+
+[Illustration: "'GOTT IN HIMMEL! DONNER UND BLITZEN!'"]
+
+As he passed through the store, he glanced here and there with the
+keen eye of the master, stopping suddenly as he espied a package which
+looked suspiciously like a Christmas pudding. A sniff and a touch was
+enough to satisfy this expert. Down, down deep in his pocket went the
+precious bills, while the air reverberated with German expletives.
+
+"Gott in Himmel! Donner und Blitzen!" he thundered in tones that had
+not been heard in that store since the baker had discovered salt
+instead of sugar on a large batch of cinnamon kuchen.
+
+The alarmed clerks stared at the baker in consternation. Two or three
+of the new ones retreated to the door, but the braver hurried to their
+irate employer, who stood glowering like a thunder-cloud and pointing
+to a certain round object reposing innocently on a table.
+
+"Der Teufel! Was meint das? Das geht nicht," shrieked the baker, who
+was apt, under excitement, to fall into his native tongue. "Who has
+not his pudding got? Wo ist dat Hans Kleinhardt?"
+
+The head clerk could not be found, and as none of the other
+clerks knew aught of the Christmas pudding scheme, the direst
+misunderstanding ensued. In the midst of the excitement the front door
+opened and Katrina rushed in, her cheeks aglow and her enthusiasm
+beautiful to behold were there no puddings in the case.
+
+"Oh, Father, I ran in--" she began, then stopped suddenly. A glance at
+her father told her that some dreadful thing had happened to disturb
+the peaceful serenity that usually pervaded Herr Baumgärtner's
+establishment. The baker turned to her.
+
+"Vat did you do mit dose Christmas puddings, already?"
+
+"Why, Father," answered Katrina, "I wrapped them up and put them on
+the table by the door, just as you told me to, before I went to the
+sleigh-ride. They must be here somewhere."
+
+A vigorous search for the puddings ensued, but it was a fruitless
+quest.
+
+After a little, when the baker had calmed down somewhat, Katrina
+ventured to tell her errand.
+
+"I came in to see if the Widow M'Carty's cake had been sent to her,
+and if it hasn't, the sleigh-ride party is here and we will drive down
+and take it to her."
+
+"Dat cake? I know nodings about it. Did any von send the Widow M'Carty
+her cake?" turning to the clerks.
+
+"The Widow M'Carty's cake!" cried all the clerks in unison. "Why, I
+sent it to her!"
+
+"The Widow M'Carty's cake!" chorused twelve highly excited drivers.
+"Why, I took it to her!"
+
+"Mein Gott! Mein Gott!" ejaculated the baker as the fate of his
+puddings dawned upon him. "Twelve cakes to the Widow M'Carty, und day
+was all puddings!"
+
+[Illustration: "'TWELVE CAKES TO THE WIDOW M'CARTY!'"]
+
+
+
+
+_Eighth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE TEN-O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+Great is the mission of the plum pudding to elevate and refine. Poor
+Mrs. M'Carty, who had been too tired even to throw a stick at the
+Dooleys, and had meant only to wait for the return of the children to
+seek her much-shared bed, now began to bethink herself of active
+preparations for the unexpected festivities of the morrow.
+
+The fire was encouraged to bestir itself, a kettle of water was put on
+to heat, and pails and scrubbing-brush were brought from the lean-to.
+
+At this juncture the returned sightseers burst into the room, Katy and
+Norah both talking at once. Terence and Denny were not far behind in
+their utterances, and though perhaps more coherent, were certainly not
+less enthusiastic. It was well that the eloquence of tongues spoke in
+their wonder-filled eyes, for otherwise no mere mortal could have
+interpreted the steadily rising tones and varied inflections which
+were excitedly mingled in a Babel of sounds.
+
+The scraping of snow and the confusion attendant upon their sudden
+entrance filled Mrs. M'Carty with new alarm, but she collected her
+wits enough to whisper with desperate vehemence, while she waved her
+scrubbing-cloth wildly:
+
+"Whist now, will you, and mind that I don't hear another word out of
+your heads, or you'll be waking up Granny, for upon my soul, her eyes
+ain't been shut more than this blessed two minutes. I hope to goodness
+you won't be disturbing her, for I be just going to do up her cap for
+the Christmas. Now off with yourselves to bed, and not another word
+out of your heads to-night, till to-morrow. Och, Katy dear! What would
+you be telling me that for again? Sure you've repeated it three
+times, not counting the twice of Terence's. Now, now, boys, will you
+mind your mother, and go to bed like good children, and be getting up
+bright and early with Christmas morning faces on you?"
+
+The boys obeyed and were soon deep in dreams in which "cops" were
+selling newspapers out in the cold, and newsboys were in Huyler's
+warming their feet while ladies in fluffy furs treated them to candy
+and ice-cream.
+
+The widow bestowed a grateful look on the two lads asleep in the bunk
+which had been built in the little jog between the kitchen and
+lean-to. Then she tiptoed past them into the inner room where she
+found Katy and Norah whispering excitedly and with no prospect of
+cessation until their mother's voice reminded them of their promise to
+be quiet.
+
+"Now, child of grace, get into the bed," she said to Katy, "and don't
+be keeping yourselves awake till the morning, and don't be forgetting
+to say your prayers."
+
+Mrs. M'Carty slipped back to the kitchen, where Grandad sat dozing in
+his one-armed rocking-chair, and immediately began to busy herself
+with fresh energy.
+
+"Off with your shirt, Grandad," she said, cheerfully, as the old man
+gave a sleepy jerk to his head. "It's the best one you have, and I'll
+wash it out in a minute and iron it to-night. You can wrap that old
+shawl about you, and while your shirt's a-soaking, I'll give you a
+brush over with a bit of soap and water, for it'll be that lively in
+the morning, there'll never be the bit of a chance, at all; and I'm
+not one to leave till the proper time them things I've the opportunity
+of doing now."
+
+The shirt being consigned to the soaking process, Bridget next
+attacked her father. When his ablutions were finished, she pinned a
+shawl around his shoulders, and moved his chair nearer the fire. With
+his cheeks glowing from their recent administration of soap and water,
+Grandad watched the washing and starching of his blue gingham shirt,
+thinking the while of its stiffness, which would encase him on the
+morrow, but at the same time regarding it as one of those trials to be
+borne without complaint.
+
+Mrs. M'Carty hung the shirt close to the fire to dry, while she
+"scrubbed thot strip in front of the sthove;" then she left the
+strip, "bekase," as she said in her state of bewilderment and joy,
+"Oi musht do the shirt whiles the irons is hot, an' it do beat all how
+fasht thim irons does het oop whin ye ain't waitin' on thim." So,
+getting up from her knees, and leaving a good-sized puddle for future
+attention, she proceeded to pound the iron on Grandad's shirt and one
+neck-cloth, turning now and then to the sweet-tempered old man, who
+sat smiling at her as she bustled to and fro.
+
+"Ye'll be that fine to-morrow," said Bridget, "that you'll not be
+after knowing yourself, sure. And your hair will be combed that
+smooth, you'll look ten years younger. It does be, I mind, it's the
+hair that adds the years to your life."
+
+Grandad Rafferty, his spirits undepressed by what sufferings the
+ordeal of starch and comb might have in store for him, tapped his
+empty pipe on the edge of the stove and responded softly,--
+
+"'Tis ye, Biddy M'Carty, would hearten up a ghost, so ye would."
+
+"It's a quare way ye have of jabberin' all through the night that a
+body can't get a wink of slape," came the querulous tones of Granny
+from her pallet in the farther corner of the inner room. "An' it's
+that cold in here--an' why in the world do ye be burnin' the fire in
+the night an' wasthin' the wood, an' we'll be sittin' 'round freezin'
+to-morra with no fire at all,--so we will."
+
+For a moment Bridget's spirits fell, but the next instant they rose
+again.
+
+"Wait a bit, now, Granny, and I'll be bringing you a warm iron to your
+feet, and before you know it you'll be dreaming of the smell of fresh
+peat coming in the door."
+
+"Dhramin' is it, Oi'd be?" growled Granny, and in a moment more her
+cane was heard thumping vigorously on the floor. Bridget and Grandad
+had scarcely more than time to exchange a sympathetic glance when
+Granny appeared with her red flannel petticoat over her nightgown and
+a black and white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She came
+hobbling in, sniffing the sudsy moisture and complaining:
+
+[Illustration: "'IT'S MORE ROOMETIZ FOR ME, SO IT IS'"]
+
+"It's more roometiz for me, so it is.--Begorra, but it's piercin' cold
+in there.--It's you that has the comfortable spot, Misther Rafferty.
+It do be that draughty when yer comin' through this way," and thus
+speaking her mind on a few points, Granny made her way slowly to her
+chair and seated herself in it.
+
+Meantime Bridget was quietly raising geysers of suds in her endeavors
+to conceal the luckless cap.
+
+"Bridget M'Carty," demanded Granny, "what on earth do ye be workin' at
+there that ye be puttin' out me eyes fairly, with splashin' soapsuds
+in them? Is it my cap yer sousin' up and down, now? Indade, then, and
+it is, an' me just wantin' it. No wonder I'll be gettin' more pain in
+my bones, with the wind blowin' like a penethratin' blast through the
+windy, an' me with no cap, an' ye kapin' yerself warm be exercisin'."
+
+"Och, now, Granny," said Bridget, hoping to pacify her, "sure I
+thought it would be a grand surprise for you when you woke in the
+morning, to see them tie-ends hanging before your eyes all starched
+up, that Miss Barney's mother might just be envying you."
+
+"Envyin' me, would she?" replied Granny. "Like enough 'twill not be
+dry by mornin' at all, an' whin I do put it on, I'll be gettin' that
+pain in me head agin."
+
+Grandad's conciliatory remark was never heard, for Granny's mutterings
+continued while her patient daughter-in-law starched and ironed the
+cap. When it was finished and hung by the fire to air, Bridget, with a
+weary smile, turned to her father.
+
+"Come now, Daddy," she said, "you'll not be wanting to get up if you
+don't be getting to your bed soon."
+
+"Well, thin, if ye're meanin' to put the light out in me face, I'll go
+back to my bed before ye do," snapped Granny, and so she went.
+
+When Grandad had been snugly tucked into his cot in the kitchen, and
+the pails and mops put out of sight, Bridget lay down to a
+well-earned sleep and dreamed that the fairies were pelting her with
+puddings, every third one of which fell into her mouth and was
+swallowed whole.
+
+
+
+
+_Ninth Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGÄRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT CHRISTMAS DAY
+
+
+Herr Baumgärtner's first impulse, on finding out what had become of
+his Christmas puddings, was to send at once to the Widow M'Carty's and
+have them returned to him. Had it not been for the lateness of the
+hour, doubtless this is what would have happened.
+
+But the night brings counsel, even in the matter of plum puddings, and
+by morning the baker had concluded that it was wiser to let the
+unlucky gifts remain in their misfit quarters. Perhaps Katrina's
+remark, that his customers would be wroth if they found they had eaten
+puddings that had been stored for a night, even, in so well-inhabited
+an abode, influenced his decision.
+
+However that may be, the baker said to Katrina as he sat down to his
+breakfast:
+
+"Vell, Katrina, if we haf given somedings away in the wrong place, we
+will not now take it back. But Katrina, dose beautiful puddings, and
+dose M'Cartys! ach! ach!" and he shook his head sorrowfully at the
+thought that these culinary triumphs should have fallen to those so
+incapable of appreciating a wonderful Baumgärtner plum pudding.
+
+In the eyes of the baker, to give twelve Christmas puddings to the
+M'Cartys was indeed to cast one's pearls before swine.
+
+Herr Baumgärtner could not remain out of sorts for any length of time,
+and when he found by his plate a gift from his beloved Katrina of a
+long meerschaum pipe from the Fatherland, he smiled and said:
+
+"Ven I smokes dat pipe den I forget dose plum puddings."
+
+The pipe, indeed, performed a placatory mission, for as the first
+rings of its smoke curled upward, it became a veritable pipe of
+peace.
+
+Later the baker and Katrina attended church together, and at the close
+of the service Herr Baumgärtner left his daughter and wended his way
+to the bakery.
+
+He tarried in front of the window occupied by the Christmas tree,
+whose gaily trimmed branches recalled to him so vividly the years when
+his little Fritz had furnished the joy and merriment of the holiday
+season. How the wee baby had bounded,--almost out of his mother's
+arms,--at sight of his first tree! Now the baker had only Katrina to
+cheer him, while he, in turn, was devoted to his daughter. His
+present errand to the bakery was to get some of her favorite Marzipan
+for their Christmas dinner, it having slipped his mind the night
+before in the distraction of the pudding calamity.
+
+As he unlocked the door and entered the store, almost the first object
+to claim his attention was the last Christmas pudding "left standing
+alone; all its nut-brown companions labelled and gone." None of his
+clerks had dared to risk his position by meddling with that package.
+Herr Baumgärtner picked up the package, saying with a sigh, as he
+unwrapped it:
+
+"Oh, well, you might as well go in the window and make a good show.
+Maybe I can sell you for New Year's day."
+
+While the baker was busy arranging his wares to make room for the
+pudding, a man came sauntering slowly up the street, pausing as he
+came to the window. He was clad in a rough suit which here and there
+showed the want of a prudent feminine stitch. The first glance showed
+him to be simply an honest Hibernian laborer. Further scrutiny
+disclosed the fact that he was a man who had passed through unusual
+experiences, for his bronzed face told of hardship and exposure. At
+each footfall he looked up imploringly at the passer-by, only to turn
+away with a sigh of disappointment. As he looked at the good things in
+the baker's window, he said to himself:
+
+"Ah, my poor Bridget and the little ones are likely fasting, when they
+ought to be having the fill of the table. And myself looking every
+place for them till the feet of me is wore off entirely. The cottage
+is empty, and the priest is a new one, and can't tell me nothing.
+Mebbe they've gone to the old country, or mebbe they're all--" and
+here he shuddered and shut his lips tightly, for he would not admit
+the worst.
+
+"Be jabers," his thoughts taking on a new turn, as he caught sight of
+a pudding being placed in the window before him, "if I could just find
+them, wouldn't I make the mouths of them water with that pudding. Like
+enough Patsy and Maggie and Norah and Katy ain't had a bite to eat of
+anything decent these six months. Heaven bless the spalpeens, how they
+would fall on that pudding! And me darling Biddy, bedad, ain't tasted
+one since she was living with the Church of Ireland minister in
+Limerick. And here I be, with money enough to buy them everything
+good, and not one out of them left to be buying for. Oh, well, I've no
+mind in me to eat myself, but I might as well step in and buy them two
+buns," and thereupon he entered the store.
+
+The new customer did not look especially promising; still, the baker
+had known far shabbier individuals to invest a dollar, even, on a
+holiday, so he advanced with a smile and said:
+
+[Illustration: "HIS GLANCE FELL UPON SOMETHING WHITE THAT LAY ON THE
+COUNTER"]
+
+"Vat can I do for you, my friend?"
+
+Pointing to the large, well-sugared buns, the man began, "Give me
+two--" when his glance fell upon something white that lay on the
+counter,--that ubiquitous card that had wrought so much mischief; the
+card bearing the name and address of Mrs. Michael M'Carty.
+
+"Vat's the matter mit you?" said the baker impatiently, anxious for
+him to complete his order.
+
+"Oh, my God, what's this?" cried the man, snatching up the card.
+
+"Dot? Vy, dat is one card to go mit one cake to the Widow M'Carty."
+
+"Widdy, widdy, is it?" cried the man, angrily. "Sure the man that
+calls her that will answer to me for it. Why would she be a widdy, and
+me working and saving as a respectable husband should for her?"
+
+"Wait awhile,--tell me,--was you Mr. Widow M'Carty?"
+
+"Who would I be then, but Michael M'Carty? It's some of them
+blathering Barneys that's after calling me Bridget a widdy. Their
+lying tongues are all the time wagging with some scandal on a woman
+that hasn't a good strong man to protect her and the childers. But
+tell me quick, where are they, and are they alive, all alive?"
+
+"I hear my Katrina speak about dem. But vere haf you been this long
+time? I t'ought you was drownded, already."
+
+"Sure, 'twas meself thought so too, the whole of the night, and I
+wished I'd never stepped me foot on that old tub of a _Go-Between_,
+for it was the devil's own. When we got in Lake Superior, a storm came
+after us sudden, and we all went down together. I was in a hole of a
+place I had to slape in,--sure a dog couldn't close his eye in that
+corner,--and in the middle of the night, down they came hustling every
+one of us out. 'Say yer prayers,' says they, 'for we're a-goin' to
+the bottom, and the Lord help us. There's not one of yez will see yer
+darlints again.' The water was terrible boisterous, and grabbed
+everythin' off the decks. Faith, it wouldn't have been so bad if we'd
+a place left for the sole of our foot, but she was gone entirely. A
+board hit me and I hung on to it, and Pat Sweeny came up from down in
+the water and hung on with me, and the noises of that night I'll never
+be getting out of me head. When it come daylight we see the
+pilot-house a-floating, and we got on that, and Pat Sweeny waved his
+red handkerchief, and I tried to push us along with the board, to the
+land we see a long way off. In the middle of the morning, we spied a
+little boat coming to us, and may the blessed Virgin spare them two
+men in it as long as they live. It was a bare enough place we come to,
+but 'twas the land, and may I be struck dead if ever I take me two
+feet off it, for it's not the likes of me will set foot on one of
+them traps of the devil again."
+
+"Ach, Gott, das war wundervoll, wundervoll," said the baker, "but tell
+me vy you stayed so long away?"
+
+"And what would the likes of me be doing with everything gone, but to
+be getting some money to come with? There were some copper mines
+there, and Pat and me went digging in the mines, and the engineer
+dying sudden-like with a fall down the shaft, it was me was there to
+be getting his job. I wrote Bridget as soon as ever I thought she
+would be looking for me coming home, and told her I wouldn't be there
+till I could earn some money to come by land, and what with the fine
+engineer wages I was getting, she needn't be expecting me till the end
+of the season. When I came home with me pile of money to give them all
+a grand Christmas, I found 'em lost on me, and I've looked every place
+these three days, and never a sound of them have I heard till now,
+and God bless ye for the good words you're giving me this day.--Troth,
+now that I'm after finding them, I ought to be buying that grand
+pudding in the windy," and diving into his pocket, he produced a roll
+of bills.
+
+"Nein, nein," said the baker, waving the money away, "dat pudding was
+not made to sell, it was made to gif away. You takes dat pudding to
+Mrs. M'Carty mit the gompliments of Herr Baumgärtner."
+
+With a hearty Merry Christmas, Michael M'Carty hurried away with the
+pudding in one hand, and the card in the other. Herr Baumgärtner,
+taking his Marzipan, went home to tell Katrina the news, laughing over
+his Christmas joke, and chuckling to himself:
+
+"Dat is vere dat pudding seems to belong!"
+
+
+
+
+_Tenth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE CHRISTMAS DAY
+
+
+Mrs. M'Carty rose early on Christmas morning, her mind bewildered by
+the fantastic visions of the night.
+
+"Sure, them puddings was all a dream," she said to herself, as she
+kindled her fire, "and what's the good of such dreams as that, but
+just to make a body discouraged with the truth of the daytimes? But,
+any how, I'll look at where I dreamed I put them, and then my mind
+will be easy for me work."
+
+More skeptical than hopeful, she went to the place where she had
+hidden them, and lo! to her great joy there they were,--twelve
+luscious, fruity puddings.
+
+"And they're just bursting with richness, and begging to be ate," she
+said. "It'll be a grand day for the childer, and they shall have their
+fill, for it's many a long, hungry day they'll be seeing before
+another Christmas."
+
+Breakfast was never a protracted function in the M'Carty household,
+but to Mrs. M'Carty, who was anxious to begin the festive preparations
+which the puddings had made possible, the scanty meal seemed unusually
+prolonged. Nothing but action could keep her from syndicating her
+secret before the proper moment, so while the repast was in progress,
+she hurried about doing, undoing, and doing over again, various
+household tasks. Finally Granny M'Carty, who had noticed Bridget's
+restlessness, exclaimed:
+
+"Are ye crazy, then, Bridget M'Carty? It's the third time this day
+ye've spread me bed, and ye'll not lave a whole fither in me pillow
+with yer senseless beatin's."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. M'Carty, ceasing from her labor, "if you're done
+with your breakfast, listen to me. Praise to the good Saint Antony, I
+found a ten-cent piece yesterday, I'd been saving that long I forgot I
+had it entirely, and with the help of Grandad's two lucky pennies he
+was never intending to spend,--may the saints spare him long to
+us,--I've a stick of candy apiece for the whole of you."
+
+[Illustration: "'A STICK OF CANDY APIECE'"]
+
+"Hoorooh!" shouted all the little McCartys in chorus.
+
+"Blessin's on the good Saint Antony!" said Grandad Rafferty, beaming
+on the excited children.
+
+"Stop yer sphakin' with such a noise!" cried Granny. "Them racketin's
+would deafen the saints themselves, so they would."
+
+"Then would them saints be getting ear-trumpets like Tim Barney's
+grandmother?" queried little Norah, climbing on the back of Granny's
+chair and peering over her shoulder.
+
+"Go along with yez, an' don't be askin' such irriverent questions, an'
+kape yerself from the back of me chair, a-shakin' me roometiz all over
+me."
+
+Bridget thumped on the table for quiet and proceeded to distribute the
+sticks of candy, each wrapped in a separate piece of paper. Grandad
+unrolled the paper and eyed his stick of candy lovingly.
+
+"Troth, it's peppermint," he said, "an' there's nothin' like
+peppermint to comfort a body's stomick. It's that long since I tasted
+it, I'd clane forgot how it looked, bedad."
+
+"Well, Bridget M'Carty," said Granny M'Carty, "It's ye that might have
+minded me health an' remembered that lemin with roometiz is like
+pourin' ile on fire. Ye must know, if ye have any sense,--which I
+misdoubt,--that roometiz hates lemin as bad as the devil hates holy
+wather," and she sniffed contemptuously.
+
+"Never mind that, Granny," said Grandad. "Bridget rolled up them candy
+and never took note of the kinds, so there'd be no strivin' with the
+childers. I'll take yer lemin an' ye're welcome to me peppermint.
+'Twill warm yer stomick an' yer feelin's, an' acushla machree, it's
+not so hard on the teeth ayther," and he surrendered his candy with a
+charming smile.
+
+"Me teeth are as good as yours any day," retorted Granny, but she did
+not hesitate to make the exchange. However, she inspected the candy
+carefully and wiped it on the corner of her shawl before applying it
+to her mouth.
+
+"Now, then," said Mrs. M'Carty, after the candy had disappeared,
+"listen while I do be telling you the order of the day. You boys,
+Denny and Terence, slip across to the pile of lumber handy on the
+tow-path, and bring me back three wide boards. We'll borry them for a
+table, and take them back when we're done. My family is all going to
+sit down to once to their Christmas dinner, the same as them rich
+folks do on the avenue. And there'll be a place for me poor Michael,
+that was and isn't. Run along now, boys, and pick clean ones, and you,
+Katy and Norah, wash the dishes, and when the table is fixed you can
+all go on the avenue and look in the windys, but mind you're home when
+the bells are ringing for twelve."
+
+Their tasks were quickly finished, and eight little M'Cartys set off
+for their outing, two-year-old Patsy being bestowed in a box nailed
+on an old sled, and drawn by the others in turn. Grandad Rafferty
+watched them until they were out of sight and sound.
+
+"It's a fine time they'll be afther havin'," he said as he took little
+Ellen on his knee and settled himself comfortably in his chair,--or as
+comfortably as the unwonted stiffness of shirt and neckcloth would
+permit. Then he whispered a wonderful story to the baby, and though
+she could not understand a word, it served its purpose, for presently
+the little head nodded and the big blue eyes closed in slumber.
+
+Granny M'Carty, who from the inner room had herself been observing the
+departure of her grandchildren toward the habitations of affluence,
+now returned to her seat by the fire.
+
+"'Tis I would never let them childer go wanderin' off like that, with
+a chance of their never comin' home agin," she commented, "but
+annyhow it'll be sthill for a bit."
+
+The children safely out of the way, Mrs. M'Carty began at once her
+arrangements for the feature of the day,--the Christmas dinner so
+bountifully provided with dessert.
+
+She took from her chest her one linen table cloth, woven in a most
+elaborate design of shamrocks. Her husband had seen and admired the
+pattern, displayed in a shop window, one St. Patrick's Day, and it
+being in the first year of his marriage, when there was but Bridget to
+share his purse, he had bought the cloth and given it to her for a
+present. The occasions which had been deemed worthy so beautiful a
+table-cover, had been few and far removed, so the linen was "every bit
+as good as new."
+
+"You're fine enough for the queen's use," said Mrs. M'Carty,
+apostrophizing the cloth as she spread it carefully on her improvised
+dining-table and smoothed its snowy folds. "Sure, you're a trifle
+small for me big table, so I'll be putting you in the middle, and
+piecing you out at the two ends with me red and white Sunday
+table-cloths that ain't seen the daylight since we came to this sorry
+hole of a place, for it's not oilcloth that the M'Cartys shall be
+eating their dinner on this day."
+
+The linen cloth being spread in the centre of the table and
+supplemented at either end with a "red Sunday table-cloth" of more
+prosperous days, Mrs. M'Carty took from the top shelf in the cupboard
+her "set of flowered dishes"--another early marital gift. Though cheap
+in quality, and the plates, cups, etc., in half-dozens instead of
+dozens, these dishes had been Mrs. M'Carty's special pride ever since
+Michael had proudly bestowed them upon her.
+
+"Look, Biddy, me darlint," he had said. "I've brought you as grand a
+lot of dishes as ever I saw, and do you mind them posies they have?
+They're like the roses growing forninst Father Kelly's wall, where I
+used to meet you when you were Biddy Rafferty."
+
+"Go along wid yer foolishness, Michael M'Carty," was Bridget's reply,
+but she had cherished the gift above all her other possessions, and
+like the table-cloth, the dishes were used but seldom.
+
+"Bridget M'Carty!" cried Granny, when she saw Bridget setting out the
+dishes, "are ye usin' them dishes me poor b'y bought with his hard
+earnin's? I'd think ye'd more respect for Michael than to set out them
+fine plates to be broken by them careless haythins."
+
+But Bridget assured Granny she would keep watch over the precious
+ware, and went on with her preparations as zealously as though she
+were preparing a banquet for noble folk. She had a small package of
+tea which had been given her by one of the conductors for whom she
+washed. He was an Irish boy lately come from the old country, and
+Mrs. M'Carty's sympathy for his homesickness had won from him this
+Christmas remembrance. The tea was a most welcome gift, for her
+finances had not permitted her to buy this beverage for many days. She
+had not mentioned it, for she wished to have as many surprises as
+possible, for, thought she, "Surprises is about all they'll be
+getting."
+
+Granny had followed her daughter-in-law's movements with a lofty,
+scornful look, but when she saw her take down the old brown teapot and
+give it a washing, she could not refrain from a question.
+
+"Is it tay ye're afther havin'?" she asked, almost forgetting herself
+at the thought and speaking in an amiable tone.
+
+"Yes, Granny, but I was intending it for a surprise."
+
+"Wan time is as good as another for a surprise," said Granny. "If it's
+a good one it gives a body somethin' pleasant to be thinkin' about,
+an' if it's a bad one, then the sooner ye're told the sooner ye do be
+gettin' over it."
+
+The animated look in Granny's eyes showed that, in her opinion, this
+surprise was a good one, and Grandad Rafferty opened his eyes in
+astonishment when he heard her crooning a bit of the "Low-backed Car."
+
+"It's the peppermint did it," said he to himself, "an' may the saints
+kape it lastin' till bedtime."
+
+By noon the banqueting-hall of the M'Cartys presented a most festal
+appearance. The flowered dishes were displayed to the best advantage,
+and the red cotton table-cloths served the purpose of a color scheme.
+The baked apples adorned the centre of the table, flanked at either
+side by plates of bread. The oven door stood ajar, disclosing two
+dishes of steaming potatoes waiting to be transferred to the table,
+and later to the plates and stomachs of the juvenile M'Cartys.
+
+When the twelve o'clock bells began to ring, Bridget poured the water
+over the tea and set the teapot over the fire, where the beverage
+immediately began boiling with a vigor that would have appalled an
+epicurean taste. Granny M'Carty was moved up to the centre of the
+table on one side, and Grandad Rafferty was installed opposite. Little
+Ellen, in the charge of her grandfather, immediately preëmpted a
+spoon, and in her enjoyment of the new plaything brought it down with
+a smart rap on one of the plates.
+
+"I told yez ye'd be afther havin' ev'ry last one of them dishes
+broke," scolded Granny. "Ye're that extravagant with yer things,
+Bridget M'Carty, it's no wonder ye went an' lost yer husband. An'
+where's them childers that was to be comin' home at twilve? Sure they
+never do as they're bid unless the devil's afther them, an' if
+they're not here soon the tay will be sphoiled entirely," and she
+sniffed the air anxiously.
+
+At this critical moment the door, true to its habit, sprung open, and
+the eight laughing, panting, ruddy M'Carty heirs and heiresses filled
+the little room to overflowing. Their wraps were thrown aside and they
+were about to make a grand rush for the table when Mrs. M'Carty
+interposed.
+
+"Never in me life have I see worse manners since me eyes had the
+misfortune to rest on them Dooleys down the tow-path. You're patterns
+in manners when you're asleep, but where do you keep your decency
+daytimes? Go to the shed and show yourselves to the water and soap,
+and don't be keeping me dinner waiting long, either."
+
+Bang, thump, splash, grunt, gurgle, constituted the sign audible of
+the little M'Cartys' cleansing. The hands and faces were polished, the
+comb hastily passed round, and in they trooped, this time more
+quietly, as if they had scrubbed off some of their boisterous
+spirits.
+
+Norah had found a bit of holly, with which she adorned the dish of
+baked apples, while Terence, with much effort, pulled from his pocket
+a package wrapped in pink paper and laid it with an important air on
+Granny's plate.
+
+"Merry Christmas, with a present for you, Granny," he said.
+
+"What's that you've been buying?" said Mrs. M'Carty, "and you with no
+money to buy nothing with."
+
+"I didn't buy it," said Terence.
+
+"I'll not have anythin' to do with stholen stuff, ye wicked craytur,"
+exclaimed Granny, pushing the offending package away from her.
+
+"I didn't steal it, neither," said Terence, proudly. "I leave such
+works for them Dooleys," and he held his head aloft and went over by
+his mother.
+
+"I believe you, Terence, my boy," said Mrs. M'Carty. "But wherever did
+you get it?"
+
+"He axed for it," interposed Katy. "We were that cold, and when we
+came to a drug-store, Terence, says he, 'Let's slip in and get warm
+and smell all them perfoomery and things.' And the drug-store man
+says, 'What does we be wanting,' and Terence says, 'We just came in to
+get warm, but we'd buy something if we had the money.' 'What would you
+buy?' said the man, and Terence says, 'Perfoomery for my mother, and
+stuff to cure Granny's roometiz.' 'Is that all ye want?' says the man;
+'then get your fingers warm and take these to your mother and Granny,
+with a merry Christmas.'"
+
+"And here's your perfoomery," cried Terence, handing a smaller pink
+package to his mother, who exclaimed over it with delight.
+
+"Sure, it's better than flowers, and far more lasting," she said,
+"and it's glad I am you brought it."
+
+"I can't read this writin' at all, at all. The sphellin' is too small
+for me eyes," said Granny, once more becoming the centre of interest.
+
+Mrs. M'Carty took the bottle and read aloud the directions.
+
+"And you're to take a teaspoonful after each meal," she concluded.
+
+"Humph!" snorted Granny. "An' does that drug-store man lay out to
+furnish me with the meals? I'd like to be told that now. Me that
+hasn't had a decint bit since ye let me poor Michael go off and get
+drownded in the cold wather."
+
+The clatter attendant on the seating of the children at the table
+prevented the latter part of Granny's speech from being heard. The
+smaller M'Cartys were placed either side of Grandad, the older ones
+being seated by Granny. The potatoes were transferred to the board,
+and Mrs. M'Carty, taking the little Ellen, sat down at the nominal
+foot of the table, opposite the empty place set in memory of her
+husband. For awhile naught was spoken save only the few occasional
+words necessary in asking for more food. Bridget sipped a little tea,
+but the sight of the vacant chair quite destroyed her appetite. She
+looked thin and care-worn, and very unlike the brave wife who with
+cheery words had sped her husband on his unlucky voyage.
+
+When the children's appetites were somewhat appeased, their tongues
+began to fly as they recounted the morning adventures,--the sights,
+the sounds, and all the little incidents which had gone to make up a
+happy morning.
+
+Finally Bridget rapped on the table for silence.
+
+"Whist again every last one of you while I make a request. Terence, me
+lad, slip over to the wood-box and bring whatever you find there.
+It's for your Grandad."
+
+Terence quickly obeyed, while the others looked on in eager
+expectance. He returned with a round package wrapped in tissue and
+lace-trimmed paper and set it before Grandad, who undid it with
+surprising alacrity.
+
+"May the saints presarve us!" he exclaimed. "If it isn't as fine a
+puddin' as my old eyes ever see in me life."
+
+"Me, me!" cried little Patsy, "me wants a puddin'."
+
+"Yes, me little Patsy," said Grandad, "ye shall have a bite as soon as
+my knife can cut it. There now, sit down, all of yez, till I have a
+chance at it,"--for the children were crowding about the old man to
+get a glimpse of the beautiful pudding. But before his knife had so
+much as touched it, Bridget interposed.
+
+"Hold a bit," she said. "Katy, darling, run to the shed and look
+under the wash-tub and bring the contents to Granny."
+
+Katy fairly flew to the shed and returned bearing aloft a package
+which in size, shape, and wrappings was identical with that which had
+just been set before Grandad. Granny opened it, displaying the mate to
+Grandad's pudding.
+
+"Whee, whee!" cried little Patsy. "Me wants it! Me wants it!"
+
+But Bridget was ready with a third order.
+
+"Norah, my jewel, you'll likely find something to your credit forninst
+the dishpan."
+
+Norah lifted the dishpan and in a trice pudding number three was
+standing beside its predecessors.
+
+"I'll bet yer, kids," said Terence, the ready spokesman, "there's a
+pudding for every last one of us. Let's get busy and hunt. Sure, I see
+something under the stove."
+
+Mrs. M'Carty let them hunt. They preferred this, and the fun ran high
+as one pudding after another was discovered. The house, though so
+small, held more hiding-places than one would have supposed, and it
+was some time before the last pudding consented to be found. Mrs.
+M'Carty allowed each one to cut his pudding and eat a generous
+portion. To more fastidious palates, cold plum pudding without sauce
+might have seemed a doubtful luxury, but to the little M'Cartys, who
+never before had tasted the dainty, the plum puddings were a veritable
+"feast of Lucullus." Baby Ellen was given a crumb or two, and she
+goo-ed, and gurgled, and smiled on them all as if she thought herself
+the cause of all this festivity.
+
+[Illustration: "MRS. M'CARTY LET THEM HUNT"]
+
+"Praise the blessid saints," said Grandad, "they didn't forget us
+this Christmas day, an' these are grand puddin's."
+
+"Grand indade," replied Granny. "If Bridget M'Carty had said her
+prayers proper-like, it's other things besides puddin's she would have
+asked the saints for, but she's that foolish, she can't keep two words
+in her head to once. When she thinks puddin's, she just thinks
+puddin's, an' not aven the sauce, bedad."
+
+"Annyhow, Granny, ye must say it was fine puddin's she did be
+thinkin'."
+
+"Av course they're fine, but there's nothin' but puddin's, an' I have
+to ate them or be stharvin', I expect," and Granny helped herself to
+the third piece and passed her cup to Bridget to be filled the fourth
+time.
+
+While the puddings were being eaten Mrs. M'Carty told the tale of the
+mysterious presents. So dramatic was her exposition of the twelve
+knocks that had been the precursors of the twelve puddings that when,
+as she finished, there came a loud and emphatic knock at the door,
+Grandad Rafferty, his mind on Bridget's story, ejaculated:
+
+"Another puddin'!"
+
+[Illustration: "'IT'S MY MICHAEL,--MY HEART OF THE WORLD'"]
+
+"Annuzzer puddin'!" lisped little Patsy.
+
+"May the saints forgit to sind us another puddin'!" said Granny
+M'Carty.
+
+Before any one had thought to open the door, it opened from without,
+and there stood, looking in at the group, a tall, haggard, weary man.
+
+"Holy Virgin save us, it's Michael's ghost!" cried Granny, covering
+her face with her hands.
+
+For a full minute the inmates of the shanty and the man at the door
+stared at each other. Then Mrs. M'Carty heard the one word:
+
+"Bridget!"
+
+It was enough. Quite forgetting little Ellen, who tumbled
+unceremoniously to the floor, Mrs. M'Carty sprang from her chair.
+
+"It's no ghost! It's no ghost!" she cried, sobbing and laughing. "It's
+my Michael,--my heart of the world,--my Michael,--come back from the
+dead," and she threw herself into his arms.
+
+Exclamations and explanations were now the order of the day. Mrs.
+M'Carty in her Christmas lavishness had used all of the tea, but she
+reheated the contents of the teapot and cut a slice of pudding for her
+husband, but Michael, established in his erstwhile empty place at the
+table, was too happy for either eating or drinking.
+
+The dinner lasted as long as did that of any of "swelldom's four
+hundred," for one cannot relate in a few moments the happenings of
+months, nor can so wonderful a gift as that of Katrina Baumgärtner be
+passed over with a few words.
+
+When the tale of the puddings was ended Michael, with a merry twinkle
+in his eye, said to Norah:
+
+"Norah, my jewel, be lookin' outside the door there, and see what you
+can be after findin'."
+
+Eight little M'Cartys ran to the door. A scramble, a noisy return, and
+down on the table descended the thirteenth pudding.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At dusk Granny M'Carty and Grandad Rafferty sat in their accustomed
+places by the fire. Baby Ellen was fast asleep in Grandad's arms. The
+children were out for a run in the fresh air, and Bridget and Michael
+were enjoying a few moments of happy converse together in the lean-to.
+
+Grandad rocked gently to and fro, nodding and smiling to himself as if
+his thoughts were very pleasant company. The sight of his cheerful
+face, dimly seen by the small lamp, was too much for Granny.
+
+"It's meself," she began, "as can sit here with never a soul to be
+shpakin' to me, an' ev'ry one of me bones and nerves achin' with the
+excitemint of this day; an' it's ye, Misther Rafferty, that can sit
+there grinnin' and noddin' like a crazy loon. It's them that has a
+fine consait of themselves that gets along in this world, I mind. An'
+look at them puddin's,--"
+
+"Puddin's? Puddin's?" said Grandad, rousing from his reverie and
+looking about as if he expected to see a second installment.
+
+"Yes, puddin's!" mimicked Granny. "What's to be done with the leavin's
+of them thirteen puddin's, the unlucky things?"
+
+"Mrs. M'Carty, don't be callin' them puddin's unlucky. Sure, 'twas the
+thirteenth puddin' that let Michael be findin' his lost family. Think
+no more of them. Remember yer Michael that couldn't sthay lost, an'
+it's because ye was so lucky to be namin' him afther the good saint.
+Saint Michael an' the old dragon, ye mind,--"
+
+"An' is it meself ye're afther callin' an old dragon?" almost screamed
+Granny.
+
+"Indade and indade, Mrs. M'Carty," began Grandad, regretting his
+unfortunate allusion to the dragon, and anxious to avert the impending
+tirade, "I'm not callin' ye an old dragon, at all, at all. It's--it's
+yer roometiz I mane. Yes, sure, it's that is the old dragon, an'
+Michael will fight it for yez, an' I know he'll conquer it entirely,
+just as sure as I know there was luck in them thirteen puddin's. An'
+Granny," he went on, growing still more Utopian in his predictions,
+"ye'll soon be walkin' 'round gay as a cricket, with never an ache or
+a pain to be throublin' yez."
+
+"Are ye sure of all that, Misther Rafferty?" asked Granny eagerly.
+Grandad had conjured up too blissful a vision for even her gloomy
+spirits to withstand.
+
+"Sure? Av course I'm sure!" answered Grandad promptly, and pounded his
+chair with emphasis. "It's as good as done this minit, an' there's
+such good times comin' for all of us, it's not aven the quane we'll be
+envyin'."
+
+Granny sat for a few moments in silence. Then she turned to Grandad.
+
+"An' did ye mind, Misther Rafferty," she said with a little
+brightness, "did ye mind, I say, that Michael had the gold ring on his
+finger?"
+
+"I did that," answered Grandad. "Me two eyes took sight of it as soon
+as ever he sthirred his hand, an' it was shinin' as bright as ever it
+was before he went an' got drownded. An' that's another sign of good
+times comin' for us. An' listen, Mrs. M'Carty, it's for yer Michael
+bein' ev'ry bit as good as gold himself, that them saints went to all
+the throuble of undrownding him an' bringin' him back to us that nades
+him."
+
+And for once Granny smilingly agreed.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Archaic syntax, dialect, and inconsistent spelling retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Misfit Christmas Puddings, by Club Consolation
+
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Misfit Christmas Puddings, by Club Consolation
+
+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: The Misfit Christmas Puddings
+
+Author: Club Consolation
+
+Illustrator: Wallace Goldsmith
+
+Release Date: May 21, 2012 [EBook #39753]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David T. Jones, Matthew Wheaton, Mardi
+Desjardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada
+Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.netCanada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p class="h1">
+THE<br />
+MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS</p>
+
+<p class="spacer">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+
+<img id="frontispiece" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="400" height="683" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;ENJOYING HER FATHER&#39;S PARTING FONDLING.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="400" height="544" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1 class="booktitle"><i>THE</i><br />
+MISFIT CHRISTMAS<br />
+PUDDINGS</h1>
+
+<p class="h4">BY THE<br />
+CONSOLATION CLUB</p>
+
+<p class="h5"><i>Illustrated by Wallace Goldsmith</i></p>
+
+<p class="h4">JOHN W. LUCE &amp; COMPANY<br />
+<span class="reduce">PUBLISHERS</span></p>
+
+<p class="h4">BOSTON &amp; LONDON<br />
+<span class="reduce">1906</span></p>
+
+<p class="spacer">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="h4"><i>Copyright, 1906</i><br />
+By JOHN W. LUCE &amp; COMPANY<br />
+<span class="reduce"><i>Entered at Stationers' Hall</i></span></p>
+
+<p class="spacer">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="h6">Colonial Press<br />
+<i>C. H. Simonds &amp; Co.</i><br />
+<i>Boston, U. S. A.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2"><i>THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i005.jpg" width="40" height="33" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="listing">TIME</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">The day before Christmas and Christmas day.</p>
+
+<p class="listing">PLACES</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">Baker Baumg&auml;rtner's Establishment.</span> Large and flourishing.
+</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">The M'Carty Abode.</span> Small and dilapidated.
+</p>
+
+<p class="listing">CHARACTERS</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">Herr Baumg&auml;rtner</span>, with a mercenary heart and an
+eye to the main chance.
+</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner</span>, with a tender heart and
+an eye on her lover.
+</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's Employees</span>, with commercial
+hearts and eyes single to the approval of <span class="smcap">Katrina
+Baumg&auml;rtner</span>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">Widow M'Carty</span>, with a sad heart and many cares.
+</p>
+
+<p class="listing2"><b>Her Cares</b></p>
+
+<p class="listing3">Granny M'Carty,&mdash;much care; little comfort.</p>
+<p class="listing3">Grandad Rafferty,&mdash;much comfort; little Cares</p>
+<p class="listing3">Nine Little M'Cartys,&mdash;both cares and comforts.</p>
+
+<p class="listing2">
+<span class="smcapb">Michael M'Carty</span>,&mdash;the loved and lamented.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><i>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</i></h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations">
+<tr>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdrfirst">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Enjoying her father's parting fondling"(<i>page 18</i>)</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"The great delight of all the children"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'For my thirteen best customers'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"She applied herself to the shirts with vigor"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Imprinted on them a few reminders of maternal solicitude"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Grandad was speechless"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'An' are ye insinooatin', Misther Rafferty?'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">33</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"As Katrina passed through the store"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'I may go, may I not?'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'It's samples I have . . .' said Terence, proudly displaying the contents of his bundle"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"To admire the festive preparations"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"And as she sat there Memory came and stood by her"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Katrina . . . went to work"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"He picked up the card and read"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Was on his way to the City Hospital"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>"'A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner!'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"She placed both puddings in her apron"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'Gott in Himmel! Donner und Blitzen!'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'Twelve cakes to the Widow M'Carty!'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Bridget next attacked her father"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'It's more roometiz for me, so it is'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'Ven I smokes dat pipe den I forget dose plum puddings'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"His glance fell upon something white that lay on the counter"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'A stick of candy apiece'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Katy . . . returned bearing aloft a package"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Mrs. M'Carty let them hunt"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"The house . . . held more hiding-places than one would have supposed"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"'It's my Michael,&mdash;my heart of the world'"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="First_Episode"><i>First Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">HERR BAUMG&Auml;RTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT
+EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY
+BEFORE CHRISTMAS</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i008-42-74-96-118.jpg" width="250" height="202" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div>
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-t-quote.jpg" width="77" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">'T</span>WAS</b> the day before Christmas, yet there was no need to tell that to
+any one in Buffalo, for everywhere in the city was the stir and
+excitement that precedes a great holiday. Every one seemed to be alert
+and in a hurry. The very air was full of Christmas scents. One felt
+that something unusual was going on, and nowhere was this more
+apparent than in Baker Baumg&auml;rtner's large establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Among the German residents of this prosperous lake port this was the
+most popular bakery in the town, and Herr Baumg&auml;rtner was caterer and
+confectioner as well as baker. Consequently he had a very large trade,
+and the twelve wagons that were despatched daily from the Baumg&auml;rtner
+bakery went to all parts of the city. Not only was he popular among
+the German residents, but whoever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> had once tasted the baker's crisp
+rolls and genuine German rye bread&mdash;not to mention the Lebkuchen and
+Pfeffern&uuml;sse at Christmastime&mdash;never neglected an opportunity to order
+more. Even the delicious Marzipan Brod&mdash;a sweetmeat made of almonds,
+sugar, and rose-water&mdash;was not omitted from his Christmas confections.
+Certainly, Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's establishment was almost too tempting
+for one who possessed but a slender pocketbook at Christmas-time.</p>
+
+<p>The windows, washed and polished until they fairly shone, were now
+hung with wreaths of holly, and festoons of evergreens were draped
+across both doors and windows in token of the holiday season. Two
+large firtrees in boxes stood on each side of the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's Christmas windows were the great delight of all the
+children in the neighborhood, for in one stood a tall Christmas tree
+from whose branches dangled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> the most wonderful candies and
+cakes,&mdash;boys and girls, kings and queens, cows, dogs, funny fat pigs,
+violins, real Swiss houses,&mdash;in fact all kinds of toys. These were
+made either of chocolate, sugar, or gingerbread.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> This marvellous tree
+was also adorned with a huge silver star at the top, while glittering
+gold and silver paper chains were suspended from its branches. These,
+and the many colored candles, made it a bewildering sight. Truly, it
+was a real fairy Christmas tree.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i011.jpg" width="400" height="356" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;THE GREAT DELIGHT OF ALL THE CHILDREN&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps no one but Herr Baumg&auml;rtner himself knew that this tree was in
+memory of a little boy who long years before had spent a few short
+Christmas days with him, for Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's only son had died when
+three years old. The baker was not a man who was supposed to have much
+sentiment, but he would as soon omit the baking of the Christmas cakes
+as omit the Christmas tree in remembrance of little Fritz. It
+certainly was a joy and delight to all the children round about, and
+so great was its fame that many a child begged "to go just once"&mdash;if
+he lived a long way off&mdash;and see the Baumg&auml;rtner's wonderful Christmas
+tree.</p>
+
+<p>Though it was yet early in the morning the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> wagons were already
+returning from the delivery of the breakfast rolls and bread. The air
+of the store was odorous with appetizing scents, attesting the baker's
+concocting skill. The shelves were filled with fragrant fresh bread,
+and there was an extra supply of cakes and buns.</p>
+
+<p>Under the glass cases were arranged the most tempting holiday cakes.
+Particularly attractive was the Lebkuchen,&mdash;a highly spiced
+gingerbread,&mdash;which was artistically made into different shapes, some
+square, others large and round, while again others were in the form of
+hearts with an ornament of sugar-work around the outside. On many were
+the words, "Merry Christmas," in tiny red and white candies. The
+animals made of gingerbread were as numerous as those that went into
+the Ark. These were done over with a thin white icing, and not a child
+that entered the bakery could be induced to leave without at least one
+animal which he selected<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> as his fancy prompted him, while many almost
+wept because they could not buy all. But perhaps for "grown-ups" the
+favorite cakes were the hard little Pfeffern&uuml;sse.</p>
+
+<p>Large wreaths of pine were suspended from the ceiling, and a feeling
+of homesickness came over many a German customer at the smell of the
+favorite Lebkuchen and the words, "Fr&ouml;hliche Weihnachten,"&mdash;for Baker
+Baumg&auml;rtner was a shrewd man and wished his customers a merry
+Christmas in German as well as in English,&mdash;and they thought of the
+joyful times in the Fatherland when the Christ-child had visited the
+home and had brought them just such simple gifts as these.</p>
+
+<p>Baker Baumg&auml;rtner was a big, burly man with a loud, gruff voice. He
+expected prompt obedience from all his employees,&mdash;apprentice boys,
+bakers, and clerks alike,&mdash;and this he usually obtained. He was very
+methodical, attending to every detail of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> large business and
+knowing just what to require from every one under him.</p>
+
+<p>"Be fair and honest" was his motto; yet he delighted in "making
+moneys,"&mdash;as he expressed it,&mdash;but honestly.</p>
+
+<p>His interests in life seemed to be divided between his growing
+business and his pretty daughter, Katrina. She was the idol of his eye
+and he could refuse her nothing, though counted close in business
+matters.</p>
+
+<p>It was eight o'clock in the morning and trade was beginning briskly.
+The telephone orders kept the bell jingling. The clerks and bakers
+were prepared for a busy day, and had received from Herr Baumg&auml;rtner
+their special instructions in regard to the catering and delivering.
+Already early customers were beginning to come in.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner stood near a table which was in the rear of the
+store. On this table were displayed thirteen Christmas puddings, set
+apart in royal aloofness. These the baker<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> intended as presents to
+some of his best customers.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, dose puddings!" he soliloquized. "Goot, rich, sch&ouml;n! But I get
+my moneys back again." In other words, he anticipated a large return
+from a small investment.</p>
+
+<p>Baker Baumg&auml;rtner knew how to do the handsome thing upon occasion, and
+was possessed of a generosity which, like Bob Acres' courage, "came
+and went." Just now it was at full tide. Desirous of presenting his
+gifts in the best possible manner, he went to his desk, and taking out
+thirteen gilt-edged cards, he wrote on each: "With the Christmas
+Greetings of Herr Wilhelm Baumg&auml;rtner." He next took from its wrapping
+a quantity of pink and blue tissue paper with embroidered edges.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Hans Kleinhardt, his head clerk, entered the store.</p>
+
+<p>"Hans, come you here once!" cried the baker. "Dot fine puddings vat
+you see dere<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> are for my thirteen best customers. Vat you tink,
+Hans,"&mdash;showing him the tissue papers, "joost de ting to wrap dot
+puddings in, nicht wahr? Always in Hirschberg dey say to me, 'Ach,
+Herr Baumg&auml;rtner,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Sie haben immer so sch&ouml;nes Papier.'"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i017.jpg" width="400" height="390" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;FOR MY THIRTEEN BEST CUSTOMERS&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"Ja, ja," assented Hans, "it is so fine already."</p>
+
+<p>So anxious was our Hans to ingratiate himself and make a good
+impression,&mdash;for Hans was ambitious,&mdash;that had Herr Baumg&auml;rtner wished
+them wrapped in circus posters Hans would have said: "Ja, ja, it is so
+fine already."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot pink, Hans, ist ausgezeichnet, dot will we haf, and moreover on
+each tie you a piece of dat Christmas holly mit de red berries. Hans,
+see. Here is dat list of mein thirteen best customers. Send you dem
+dose puddings. Each and efery pudding is joost quite alike. Here are
+dose cardts mit vich I send dem my Christmas Greetings. You see dot
+dose puddings get sent dis Christmas eve."</p>
+
+<p>Hans put the list and the thirteen cards into his pocket and promised
+to attend to the order faithfully.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A 'phone call for you, sir," said one of his clerks.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner went slowly to the telephone. Nothing ever made the
+good baker hurry, for haste was not in his make-up.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, vat you vant?"</p>
+
+<p>A large order had not been delivered. That was an unpardonable offence
+in the Baumg&auml;rtner establishment. The baker was slow to be aroused,
+but when once his anger was awakened he was, indeed, a furious man.
+The wild, fierce Teuton in him got the upper hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Donner Wetter!" he cried. "Vat for dat big order not delivered, and
+vone of mein goot customers dat leaves me much moneys? You tink I hire
+you for noddings, eh? Joost to trow my moneys away on you?"</p>
+
+<p>He stormed and raged at the unlucky clerk through whose carelessness
+the mistake had occurred.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Himmel!" he yelled. "How come dat you forget? You are one Dummkopf! I
+haf not served in die German army for noddings, and ven I say 'You
+delifer dose tings on Monday' I mean on Monday, and not on Tuesday.
+You hear dat now?"</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy clerk acknowledged that he heard, and, fortunately for
+him, the entrance of a wealthy customer saved him from further wrath.
+The sincere admiration expressed by the customer for the Christmas
+decorations and the Christmas confections was appreciated by the
+baker, and the pleasant words, being supplemented by a large order,
+restored Herr Baumg&auml;rtner to his usual good humor. As he returned to
+his office he could not refrain from pausing a moment beside the table
+which held the Christmas puddings.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, dose puddings!" he commented, viewing them with professional
+pride, "Dey are joost like von picture!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Second_Episode"><i>Second Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE MORNING OF THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i021-57-85-106-131.jpg" width="250" height="172" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-d.jpg" width="75" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><b><span class="hide">D</span>OWN</b> on the tow-path was a little, weather-beaten shanty that
+presented a far different setting for the enactments of the coming
+holiday.</p>
+
+<p>Here, for six sad months, the Widow M'Carty had tried to keep the wolf
+from the door, but work as she might, her efforts would hardly have
+frightened an able-bodied weasel.</p>
+
+<p>It was now some eight months since Michael M'Carty, broad-shouldered,
+courageous, and loving, had rushed home to his snug cottage one
+noon-time with the news that he had shipped as assistant engineer on
+the big, new freighter, the <i>Go-Between</i>, which was to leave port that
+very night.</p>
+
+<p>Bridget, his wife, had smiled bravely at him through tears that the
+prospect of separation called to her eyes, but went thriftily to work
+to get his clothes in readiness; "Fer," said<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> she, "there'll be no
+tellin' whin they'll feel a needle again."</p>
+
+<p>Michael M'Carty had followed the lakes before, and now with better
+wages than ever it was no time for "complainin'." Indeed, there never
+had been any time for "complainin'" in Bridget's cheery, helpful life.
+Even the maternal cares which had multiplied so rapidly had not robbed
+her of her girlish buoyancy, and the ninth little M'Carty, at that
+moment enjoying her father's parting fondling, had been just as
+welcome as the first, now a proud member of the highest "Grammar
+Grade," though barely thirteen.</p>
+
+<p>Michael M'Carty was ambitious for his children, and even dreamed of
+sending his cleverest offspring to the New High School which he passed
+each morning on his way to work. That presumptuous plan never had been
+whispered to any one save his "darlin' Biddy," and they dreaded the
+day when it should be made known to Granny M'Carty,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> whose presence at
+the family hearthstone supplied all the discipline that could possibly
+be needed in any fairly moral household. Granny M'Carty's rule was
+like unto that of the Chinese mother-in-law, and if anything ever had
+pleased her since her son brought her to his hospitable home, she had
+betrayed no suspicion of the feeling.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion described Granny swayed to and fro in her chair,&mdash;the
+most comfortable that the house afforded,&mdash;and wailed:</p>
+
+<p>"Ochone, sorra the day! The banshee was singin' onunder the windy last
+night, an' ye'll be drownded, sure; or failin' or that ye won't know
+onny more than to go ashore at Chicagy an' there ye'll be murthered to
+death with one of them hand-bags, worra, worra!"</p>
+
+<p>If the demon of pessimism lurked by the M'Carty fireside in the person
+of Granny M'Carty, that malign influence was offset by the angel of
+optimism who brooded over<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> the family circle under the name of Grandad
+Rafferty.</p>
+
+<p>Grandad, whose society was the only dowry that Bridget Rafferty had
+brought to her husband, now interposed his sweet, quavering tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Whist, Granny, don't be undoin' the b'y jist as he's leavin' Biddy
+an' the childer. The blessid Virgin will fetch him back all right.
+Good luck to ye, lad. Ye're a fine son to me, an' I'll mind Biddy an'
+the chicks an' look after them while ye are away."</p>
+
+<p>Grandad was right. He certainly would "mind" the children, for their
+lightest word was law to him. He would "look after" them, and fondly,
+too, but his feeble limbs never could follow the antics of the merry
+little brood.</p>
+
+<p>With a varied cargo of good wishes and gloomy forebodings, and with
+Bridget's gold ring on his finger "for luck," Michael steamed
+away,&mdash;sorrowful at leaving his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> dear ones, but glad that fortune
+favored his honest efforts for their comfortable support.</p>
+
+<p>Never had such a storm swept the lakes in spring-time as buffeted the
+poor <i>Go-Between</i>, yet untried by wind and wave. Unskilful loading
+interfered with a perfect ballast, and unseamanlike management left
+her at the mercy of the tempest.</p>
+
+<p class="h3">"WENT DOWN WITH ALL ON BOARD!"</p>
+
+<p>was the head-line that greeted faithful Bridget M'Carty on the morning
+of that dreadful day a week after Michael had left her, and before she
+could snatch a paper her heart told her the name of the boat.</p>
+
+<p>Though a tireless worker, Bridget had always depended upon Michael for
+the management of their small affairs, and at first she was bewildered
+by the responsibility thrust upon her. It took time to recover from
+the shock of the sad news and to make<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> plans and find work that would
+put bread into twelve hungry mouths. In that time the little store of
+savings was expended, for in addition to all the other troubles,
+Granny M'Carty brooded herself ill, and the doctor's bill had to be
+paid.</p>
+
+<p>It was soon apparent that the snug little home in which Michael had
+left his family must be abandoned for humbler quarters. Inexperienced
+in house-hunting and feeling restricted to the lowest possible rent,
+Mrs. M'Carty fell a prey to an unprincipled landlord, who induced her
+to take her flock to a ramshackle abode on the tow-path which he
+described as "quite habitable."</p>
+
+<p>The place had not seemed so objectionable while warm weather lasted.
+The passing canal-boats with their patient motive power afforded
+unfailing interest to the little M'Cartys by day, and the swish of the
+displaced waters lulled them to sleep at night.</p>
+
+<p>Viewed objectively, the place perhaps was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> not without attractions. "A
+real live painter" had once pitched his easel near at hand, causing a
+little M'Carty to run home breathless with the information that he had
+called their house "picturesque."</p>
+
+<p>When Grandad Rafferty heard this compliment to their domicile, he
+said,&mdash;"Picteresk is it? Well, that is a comfort!" But Granny M'Carty
+refused to be deceived by empty words; "Picteresk, indade! Let them
+live on that who can!"</p>
+
+<p>Half-covered with snow in the freezing winter weather, the picturesque
+element of the M'Carty home was lost in desolation, and on this
+December day even stout-hearted Bridget was obliged to let her
+feelings partake of the prevailing atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>Salt tears trickled down the poor woman's cheeks and fell into the tub
+where she was "doin' out" the wash of some street-car conductors not
+fortunate enough to have womenfolk of their own.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," said Bridget with doleful humor, "that's all the salt water
+these poor shirts will be getting to set their color, and oh, dear! I
+wish they were Michael's."</p>
+
+<div>
+<img  class="wrap" src="images/i029.jpg" width="200" height="409" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>She sank down on an upturned tub and gave way to her bitter grief as
+she seldom allowed herself to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, it's the first Christmas since my name was M'Carty that the tub
+will be upside down. The childer couldn't always spare a stocking
+apiece for hanging up, but it was many a bit they found in the tub. My
+pie, Mike used to be calling it.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And now it's him that is dead, and we've not even a meal in the
+pantry&mdash;no, nor pantry neither, and what'll become of us now?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. M'Carty soon realized that even the luxury of time to mourn
+was denied the poor, and she controlled herself resolutely with the
+words:</p>
+
+<p>"There, ain't ye ashamed of yourself, Biddy M'Carty? As if it were not
+bad enough to have the trouble in your heart without grieving about it
+aloud into the bargain. Supposing the children were all dead, and
+Grandad were blind, and&mdash;and Granny were took away, and yourself were
+in the insane crazy asylum. Then would be time to be wasting in
+weeping."</p>
+
+<p>So, leaving tears for the pastime of lunatics, Bridget bravely
+furbished up her philosophy and brought it into use.</p>
+
+<p>To make up for lost time she applied herself to the shirts with such
+vigor that the very fabric was in danger of disappearing with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> the
+spots of dirt which she attacked. These garments must be ready as soon
+as possible, for she needed the money to which their cleansing
+entitled her.</p>
+
+<p>She had just sent Katy and Norah out with her last piece of work. It
+was not lucrative, being the washing for the little lame seamstress
+who could not afford to pay much, but for whom Mrs. M'Carty, with the
+generosity of the warm-hearted Irish, continued to work.</p>
+
+<p>The family income was somewhat augmented by the willing efforts of
+Dennis and Terence, and they were now absent in the pursuit of their
+vocation, the sale of daily newspapers.</p>
+
+<p>Mary and Maggie, too young to be of assistance, were quietly dressing
+up Granny's stick in a bit of tattered shawl and playing that it was a
+witch, at any moment liable to pounce on Granny and carry her off, the
+wish, perhaps, being father to the thought.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> Unobserved, the little
+girls were making threatening gestures behind the old lady's chair,
+indicative of her impending fate. Meantime they cast fearful glances
+toward the owner of the stick, the danger of momentary discovery
+adding pleasurable excitement to their pastime.</p>
+
+<p>Baby Ellen was asleep in her favorite resting-place, Grandad's arms.
+The two younger boys were making themselves unpopular by toddling back
+and forth between the living-room and the lean-to, from which latter
+place came the dull rhythm of Mrs. M'Carty's scrub, scrub, scrub on
+the wash-board.</p>
+
+<p>An outbreak from Granny heralded the interruption of the witch drama,
+and brought Bridget to the spot. The children were dodging behind
+Grandad's chair, while Granny poured the vials of her wrath on their
+offending heads, at the same time indulging in her favorite custom of
+throwing at them the articles within her reach. Perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> the one
+compensation in the paucity of the furnishings of the M'Carty home was
+the limitation on the vehicles of Granny's wrath.</p>
+
+<p>"Och, them spalpeens!" she shouted as her daughter-in-law entered,
+"bad 'cess to them, rampin' an' rampagin' 'round till me ears is jist
+burshtin'!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. M'Carty, feeling that some one ought to be punished, and not
+thinking it quite filial to belabor her mother-in-law, caught up two
+or three of her olive branches that were recklessly waving in the air,
+and imprinted on them a few gentle reminders of maternal solicitude.
+Howls rent the air, but these were largely for effect, for Bridget had
+a whole-souled way with her in administering punishment, which left no
+lasting resentment in the objects of her discipline.</p>
+
+<p>Always concerned lest the correction of her grandchildren be lacking
+in severity, Granny growled:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+<div id="i034">
+<div id="i034a">&nbsp;</div>
+<div id="i034b">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p>"Sthop yer whillelewin' an' phillelewin'! Ye ought to have a strap, so
+ye had!"</p>
+
+<p>She felt a certain satisfaction in the crisis which she had
+precipitated, but it did not temper her speech, for as soon as the
+children were quiet she broke forth.</p>
+
+<p>"Begorra, perhaps it's a nice Christmas we'll be havin' with the
+winter here with its searchin' cold, an' nothin' but this shanty with
+its two rooms an' lean-to, an' half the furnitoor gone to pay rent,
+an' put food in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> the mouths of that greedy raft of childer. An' jist
+feel my roomatiz!" her voice growing more shrill with excitement, "an'
+not a whole pane in the windy, but it's many a pain I have in me
+bones. An' I nade linnyment this minit. An' look at him settin'
+there," pointing wrathfully at Grandad Rafferty, "an' not makin'
+anybody trouble!" and she paused as if to contemplate the pleasure
+that would be afforded her to see Grandad making somebody a great deal
+of trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"An' there's my poor Michael," she went on, "drownded an the wather
+an' wearin' that nice gold ring on his skellington."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't," moaned poor Bridget, putting up her hand as if to ward
+off the blow of cruel words. But Granny, finding her ravings were
+making an impression, grew more fluent.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't doubt me there was the price of a bottle of linnyment in that
+ring, an' more,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> an' ye that extravagant to be makin' him wear it when
+ye knew he'd be drowned."</p>
+
+<p>Bridget and Grandad were at their wit's end, as many a time before,
+for words with which to soothe the old woman. Though he inwardly
+resented this abuse of his daughter, Grandad tried as usual to pour
+oil on the seething waters.</p>
+
+<p>"Annyhow, Granny, it's a mercy it was a real gold ring, an' not one of
+them chape things to be gettin' all rusty in the wather."</p>
+
+<p>Granny flew into a more violent rage.</p>
+
+</div><!--i034-->
+
+<p>"An' are ye insinooatin', Misther Rafferty, that my son would ever
+wear an old brass ring? I'd have ye know that real gold is none too
+good for the poor, dear b'y to be drownded in. An' I wish ye'd stop
+yer talkin', ye blatherin' omadhaun," she snapped out, and then
+relapsed into sullen silence, setting her empty pipe upside down in
+her mouth, a veritable picture of despair.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i037.jpg" width="400" height="421" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;GRANDAD WAS SPEECHLESS&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But Granny's silence, even, could make<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> itself felt. Grandad was
+speechless. Dear old Grandad! The sun of his cheerfulness had suffered
+no eclipse from the clouds of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> adversity that enveloped the M'Carty
+family. His "Marnin', honey!" and "Avenin', shure!" sounded as
+pleasantly as ever. When he had bread he ate it thankfully,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> and when
+there was none he said that his "sthomick had a sort of full feelin'
+of itsilf."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i038.jpg" width="400" height="399" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;AN&#39; ARE YE INSINOOATIN&#39;, MISTHER RAFFERTY&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was a constant comfort to his daughter, but the sweetness of his
+spirit was gall and wormwood to Granny. If there is one thing more
+exasperating than another to a caustic temperament, it is the constant
+companionship of a bland and optimistic disposition. In Granny's case
+the necessity of maintaining both sides of a quarrel kept her tongue
+sharpened to a piercing point.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment's quiet, Mrs. M'Carty slipped the pipe out of Granny's
+mouth and returned it to her filled. It was accepted, though
+thanklessly. With a smile and an understanding nod to her father,
+Bridget returned to her tubs.</p>
+
+<p>She finished her washing and put things to rights. Then she drew from
+a box where she kept a few things from Granny's prying eyes, her sorry
+Christmas presents,&mdash;some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> pictures cut from an illustrated paper and
+pasted on squares of cardboard.</p>
+
+<p>"The poor darlings," she said. "I can't even be buying them trifling
+presents. I must be saving every penny, for the first of the month is
+coming, and the agent, bad 'cess to him, will be here to lift the
+rent. An' these poor picters is all I've got for Christmas for the
+biggest ones, and nothing at all for the next size, and the same for
+the middlest size and the littlest ones, and never a thing for the
+baby. I most wish I'd let little Patsy keep the ball he stole from the
+Wilkeson boy."</p>
+
+<p>The strain of the recent encounter had told on Mrs. M'Carty's usually
+steady nerves, and her inability to contribute to her children's
+holiday enjoyment filled her with sudden resentment.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose them Barneys up on Fifth Street will every one of them be
+strutting and ballyragging 'round with gewgaws, and fixings, and such
+like things. Faith, they'll<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> need them to be making themselves look
+decent, so they will. Truth, every single one of them Barneys has more
+freckles than I could find on my whole nine together, if I searched
+with a candle. And why can't they be having what they're after
+wanting! Anybody can buy that has money."</p>
+
+<p>Bridget laid the pictures back in the box.</p>
+
+<p>"You can stay there," she said, closing the cover. "It will never do
+to be giving something to one and nothing to the rest of them. Bedad,
+I'd like to put my eye on a dollar once. It's always to be watching a
+cent that makes a body short-sighted."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Third_Episode"><i>Third Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">HERR BAUMG&Auml;RTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT TEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY
+BEFORE CHRISTMAS</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-i.jpg" width="79" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><b><span class="hide">I</span>T</b> was Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's habit to open his mouth almost as prudently
+as his purse, but when at ten o'clock one of his clerks returned
+without the amount of the bill he had been sent out to collect, the
+baker lost patience.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot get dat moneys! Haf you said how I must pay my insurance,
+and all der clerks in dis big store, and all der extras for Christmas?
+How will I pay for dem if my moneys comes not back again? Haf you said
+how I must haf it?"</p>
+
+<p>The clerk explained that he had told Mr. Weiss, the debtor, all this
+and that he had said he would pay, without fail, the first of the next
+month.</p>
+
+<p>"Next mont'!" cried the indignant baker. "He haf told me dat same
+t'ing six times already! First he write he will send it next<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> mont';
+den he say, 'Soon as my interest is due I will pay;' next times, 'My
+wife she is sick and you must wait yet a little while.' Go tell him I
+vill haf dat moneys dis day!"</p>
+
+<p>The clerk departed as he was bidden. The baker shook his head angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, dose peoples! I haf no patience mit dem. In Germany Fritz Weiss
+was dat honest and goot. It is all along of his wife. She must haf one
+fine house, and dere girls such clot'es,&mdash;like one Baronin,&mdash;vich is
+bad for dem, and for my Katrina too, ven she know of it. Bewahre, dat
+my Katrina should so dress. Yet I haf die means and Fritz he haf not.
+So foolish a wife he haf. Gott sei Dank! My blessed wife war nicht so.
+She had always so much goot sense, and dose girls are not like my
+Katrina. Nein, I haf not seen one M&auml;dchen like mein Katrina, immer
+sehr sch&ouml;n und gut."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Herr Baumg&auml;rtner looked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> out of his office and saw his
+Katrina entering the store.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, dere is mein Katrina. She makes me always glad ven I see her,"
+he mused, watching her with loving eyes as she came through the store.</p>
+
+<p>Katrina was a picture to delight other eyes than those of her father.
+A mass of wavy, flaxen hair framed a face of rare tints of pink and
+pearl. Beautiful blue eyes she had, eyes that could be trustful or
+merry under their long lashes, while the sweet, smiling mouth with its
+full-arched upper lip was not the least of Katrina's charms. When one
+looked at her it was like beholding the vision of some bewitching,
+Saxon princess.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner was not burdened with a large family, for he had only
+this one daughter, so it would seem that Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner might
+have advantages denied many of her companions. She had rather unusual
+advantages, for while her girl friends<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> were learning to paint
+uncertain flowers, and to entertain with equally dubious musical
+accomplishments, Katrina's father had insisted that his daughter must
+learn the art of the housewife.</p>
+
+<p>As Katrina passed through the store she had a word or a nod of
+recognition for each busy clerk, and for the customers whom she knew.
+She stopped to leave a small package with Max Schaub for his little
+lame August; and when George Reigel's sick Freda opened her box on
+Christmas morning she was to find a doll that Miss Katrina's artful
+fingers had dressed.</p>
+
+<p>When Katrina's mother was alive she had taught her child, through
+years of precept and example, an uncommon interpretation of the
+holiday giving,&mdash;that the family and friends were not to be thought of
+until many a Christmas surprise had been planned for the needy and
+unexpectant. The baker himself came in for a share of the waves of
+grat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>itude that swept toward his home at each holiday season, though
+this tide of good feeling was largely due to his thoughtful daughter.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i047.jpg" width="400" height="364" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;AS KATRINA PASSED THROUGH THE STORE&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Katrina felt the blessedness of giving, but just now she had other
+joys, as well, to keep her heart aglow. She was at the age when most
+girls have considerable liberty in their personal affairs, but this
+was not the case with Katrina.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner settled the questions of his household with the same
+attention and decision that he gave to his business. Consequently his
+daughter was a frequent visitor at her father's store, where she came
+to consult him on the trivial as well as upon the most important
+questions pertaining to their domestic concerns.</p>
+
+<p>When she presented herself before Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's desk on this
+morning before Christmas, he greeted her with his usual question on
+such occasions:</p>
+
+<p>"Was willst du, Katrinchen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something nice this time, Vater. The big snow-storm has come just in
+time for Christmas, you know, and I am invited to a <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>sleigh-ride
+party to-night. I may go, may I not?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i049.jpg" width="400" height="533" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;I MAY GO, MAY I NOT?&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"A sleigh-ride den?" and he smiled and said, "Only once is one
+young!&mdash;But who asked you to go on dat sleigh-ride?"</p>
+
+<p>"Johann Hermann asked me this morning," replied Katrina, blushing a
+little, "but I told him I must first ask you."</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, so! Vat for a man is der Johann dat of a morning he comes to ask
+you, Tochterchen? Vat does he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He keeps books, Father, and he stopped on his way to his work. He
+came just after you had gone this morning, and he will come at noon to
+see if I may go."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he son of dat Herr Frederick Hermann dat knows not so much to
+stick to one job steady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, Father, he is not like that," protested Katrina, earnestly.
+"He told me this morning that he meant to work hard while he was young
+so that he might earn<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> money enough to be able to rest when he is old.
+He said he knew a man who had made a bank account that way, and he
+meant to do it too."</p>
+
+<p>"Nun, gut,&mdash;dat man he means might be me, Katrina," said Herr
+Baumg&auml;rtner, with a little glance of pride at his inner man.</p>
+
+<p>"He did not say it was you, Vater, but he is a good young man and I
+know you will like him. And I may go?"</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner found it very hard to refuse Katrina anything, and
+when he felt obliged to do so he consoled himself with the reflection:</p>
+
+<p>"It causes me sorrow not to give her everyt'ings, but it is better for
+her."</p>
+
+<p>However, he felt that this was not the time for the discipline of
+self-denial, so he gave his consent.</p>
+
+<p>"Ja wohl, to-night kannst du, Katrinchen."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, thank you, Father," and she gave his arm an
+affectionate squeeze as together they passed out of the office.</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't the store look fine, and how good everything smells," said
+Katrina, delighting in the spicy odors. But Katrina was in a mood to
+be delighted with anything.</p>
+
+<p>"So much thoughts, so great work, das ist," replied her father,
+looking at the exemplification of the law of supply and demand going
+on steadily before them, and added, "but die trade goes well dis
+year."</p>
+
+<p>"That is good, and when all is sold to-night that will be sold before
+the Christmas you will not forget the cakes and goodies for my poor
+little ones for to-morrow, will you? I have some of my Christmas money
+saved to pay for them, but I must have a great many for my money, five
+times as much as I could get with it anywhere else, or I will not buy
+here any more, Herr Papa," said Katrina roguishly.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ach, Katrina, vy t'row so goot stuff away on dose children? Dey know
+not der value. I tell you it is joost one big waste."</p>
+
+<p>Katrina was too wise to argue with her father even if he would have
+permitted, and she knew that she would get her cakes in spite of his
+grumbling. Turning she saw the table with its array of Christmas
+puddings.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what beautiful puddings!" she exclaimed. "Would they not make
+such a handsome window with a bit of Christmas holly on each of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ja, so dose puddings would make one splendit window, Liebchen," said
+the baker. "So much eggs, und raisins, und currants, und spices, und
+wine dey took, und six hours to cook each one. But dey will keep a
+year."</p>
+
+<p>"And are they all sold?" asked Katrina.</p>
+
+<p>"Nein, nein, Katrina, we sell not one of dose puddings."</p>
+
+<p>"Not sell them, Father! Are you going to give them away?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Katrina, Katrina, you remember not anyt'ings to-day. At home haf I
+not said how I send out one puddings each to mein best customers, and
+on die card my compliments?" and Herr Baumg&auml;rtner straightened himself
+proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is so. I had forgotten," said Katrina. "But if I were going
+to give them away I would not send them to rich people who have money
+to buy them. I would send them to poor people who never have such
+treats."</p>
+
+<p>"Katrina, you know not business. You t'ink der fisherman he put dat
+worm on dat hook to feed der fish, eh? Den how come all dose fish at
+night in his basket?"</p>
+
+<p>Katrina never let any differences with her father stare her out of
+countenance, so as he turned toward his office she followed him.</p>
+
+<p>"I nearly forgot one thing I wanted, Father. May I have a cake to send
+to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> Widow M'Carty? She is the woman who washes for us sometimes,
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Lieber Himmel! Vy should I send to the Widow M'Carty one cake? Nein,
+Katrina. Should I gif everyt'ing away? Vat mit der baskets for dose
+orphan asylums yet, I am like one big Santa Clauses already."</p>
+
+<p>"But Mrs. M'Carty has nine little children, Vater&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Maype she has, I care not. I feed not so many people's nine
+children."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Father, this will be such a sad Christmas for the poor woman. It
+is not a year, yet, since her husband was drowned. And think of those
+nine little M'Cartys with no dear, kind, handsome papa like
+mine,"&mdash;Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's features relaxed a little,&mdash;"and you've
+often told me when Grossvater Baumg&auml;rtner went to Hirschberg with you
+and the little Hans that died, how that kind man&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dere, dere, Katrina," broke in Herr</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Baumg&auml;rtner in an unsteady voice. "Take dot cake, and I hope it will
+not choke dose M'Cartys mit der strangeness of eating anyt'ing so
+goot."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Fourth_Episode"><i>Fourth Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE SIX O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i021-57-85-106-131.jpg" width="250" height="172" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-d.jpg" width="75" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><b><span class="hide">D</span>ESPITE</b> the many mechanical operations performed upon the family clock
+by the little M'Cartys, it ticked away the minutes, and the hours, and
+the days faithfully. Even on this special Christmas Eve when the
+fortunes of its owners seemed at their very lowest ebb, it did not so
+much as moderate its voice or slacken its movements. When the hour
+arrived that its long hand should point straight upward and its short
+hand straight downward, the bells of the city began to ring, and the
+whistles of the city began to blow, announcing, with much clamor and
+discordance, that another day of labor was ended.</p>
+
+<p>At the shriek of the first whistle Grandad Rafferty, who sat by the
+fire with baby Ellen on his knee, looked up at the clock and nodded to
+it approvingly.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Arrah now, ye little leprechaune that works while the rest do be
+shlapin', ye're tellin' the truth same as ever, for it's time for them
+that's workin' to be sthoppin'. I mind when I was young an' sphry how
+glad I was to lave me workin' an' run home to me swate Maggie, God
+rest her soul! And when she see me comin' over the hill, she'd be
+steppin' down the lane to mate me. And afther supper I'd smoke me
+dudheen whilst Maggie redded up the cabin and then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"True for ye," broke in Granny M'Carty from her seat on the opposite
+side of the fire. She could not abide Grandad Rafferty's
+reminiscences, for they recalled to her the happy days in the old
+country,&mdash;the place to which her heart turned ever with longing,
+though she never expected to put foot again on its green turf. "It's
+ye that would sit and smoke an' yer Maggie workin' her legs off
+slavin' for yez. Och, it's the men have the aisy time in this life,
+but it's them same, I'm<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> thinkin', that will pay for it by a longer
+sthop in purgatory, and I hope they will, so I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Indade, now, Mrs. M'Carty," began Grandad Rafferty, soothingly,
+"sure, the men have&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Indade, then, they have not!" contradicted Granny. "Look at them men
+that's goin' home this minit,"&mdash;waving her hand as if toward a
+procession of laborers passing before her. "What have they to do? In
+the mornin' they're off with a fine lunch in their pails, an' never a
+bed to make, or a floor to swape, or a childer to clane, or a male to
+be cookin'. It's the womin must sthay at home and mind all that. And
+when they're home at night they'll eat their supper an' likely grumble
+at it, then sit at their ease an' smoke. Troth, if I had the word&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Musha, musha, Mrs. M'Carty!" said Grandad. "Ye're clane forgettin'
+the men work hard all day, that the womin may sthay safe at home with
+their jewels of childers."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Jewels of childers, indade!" exclaimed Granny, her attention turned
+to a new grievance. "Them kind of jewels poor folks could do well
+withoot."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to that now, Ellen, me jewel," said Grandad Rafferty,
+addressing himself to the baby on his knee. "Listen, but don't ye
+belave a worrd ye're hearin'. Yer Granny would not part with yez for
+long money. Would ye, Mrs. M'Carty? An' is she not ev'ry bit as fine a
+child as yer Michael when he wor a baby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Me Michael&mdash;may the Hivens be his bed&mdash;had the sense to be born a
+b'y, an' there was but two of him, an' here's yer grandchilder
+springin' up like blades of the grass for number. Oh, Michael,
+Michael," wailed Granny, "if ye could only see yer old mither now,
+'tis not aisy ye'd rest in yer grave if ye had a grave, which ye
+haven't, worse luck. Here I be, with never a dacent bit or sup, me
+that in the old counthry had bacon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> with me praties an' a fine shawl
+fer Sunday," and at this point Granny began to weep.</p>
+
+<p>"Whist now, whist, Granny!" cried Mrs. M'Carty, coming in from the
+lean-to where she had been to bestow the insignia of her office, her
+board and tubs. "Don't be grieving with yerself. I'll make the supper
+an' ye'll feel better when ye have something warm in yer stomick. It's
+not much we have, but when Dinny and Terence grow a bit more&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Grow is it?" exclaimed Granny, finding in Bridget's words another
+source of wrath. "Ye'd betther be prayin' the saints to kape thim from
+growin'. Their clothes is far too small fer their size this minit."</p>
+
+<p>"Now Granny, it's yerself knows me prayers won't keep them boys from
+growing, but it's hoping I am that the clothes will come with their
+bigness."</p>
+
+<p>"That's like yer foolishness, Bridget M'Carty," retorted Granny. "It's
+ye that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> is always expectin' somethin' betther the morrow. It's the
+worst ye should be lookin' for, so it is, for it's that ye'll be
+afther gettin', more like."</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="wrap" src="images/i063.jpg" width="300" height="258" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Now Granny," replied Mrs. M'Carty, "it's never a minit I'll be
+wasting getting ready for troubles, for when troubles come they're a
+different sort entirely than them you do be ready for."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door, true to its habit of flying open at any and
+all times, swung briskly on its hinges, and admitted Denny and Terence
+returned from their sale of evening papers. Terence carried a small
+package while Denny waved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> aloft a branch of evergreen which he had
+rescued from the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Look every one of you and see what Terence is after bringing," cried
+Denny.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye've left the door open on me poor old bones," complained Granny.</p>
+
+<p>Five little M'Cartys sprang to shut the door.</p>
+
+<p>"It's samples I have&mdash;enough for the whole of us," said Terence,
+proudly displaying the contents of his bundle. "And it's a bit of milk
+you put with it and it's cooked. I seen them on the counter when I ran
+in a grocery to warm my fingers. 'Take one,' the card said, and I
+asked the clerk an' he says, 'Take two, you'll be a good advertisement
+for it.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Wheat Krakle, it is," said Denny, taking up one of the samples and
+reading the label. "Better than meat, and more n-o-u nur, r-i ri,
+s-h-i-n-g shing, nourishing, whatever that may be. And I says to
+Terence, 'what's two of them with twelve of us?' and says I,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> 'let's
+ask 'round and get one apiece,' and here you have them."</p>
+
+<p>Granny who, before the opening of the package, had hoped it might
+contain a "bit o' bacon, or a dhrawin' o' tay," of which luxuries she
+had been deprived for some time, leaned back in her chair with a
+groan.</p>
+
+<p>"Och hone, it's just one more of them new aitin's to sphile my
+stomick," she said. "May the devil fly away with them that makes them.
+Sure along with them haythinish sthuffs I've ate since poor Michael
+died on us, me insides feel like Brian O'Connell's oatfield in the old
+counthry, an' that same was half-bog an' half-bushes, bad scran to
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Now then, Mrs. M'Carty," said Grandad Rafferty, as usual finding some
+good in everything, "have ye no thought how ye're savin' yer teeth
+with these new aitin's that shlip down so aisy ye're not to the
+throuble of chewin' them?"</p>
+
+<p>But Granny was not to be mollified, and she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> refused to sit down with
+either of the relays of the family which gathered at the tiny table
+and partook of the food that was "Better than meat and far more
+nourishing."</p>
+
+<p>Supper being over and the dishes hastily washed by Katy, the four
+elder M'Cartys were allowed to set forth for an evening walk to admire
+the festive preparations for the morrow's holiday,&mdash;a holiday in the
+pleasures of which they had no hope of sharing. Four more M'Cartys
+were despatched to their humble couches, two of them, owing to
+Granny's faultfinding, having been spanked vigorously before being
+turned over to the arms of Morpheus. After all, perhaps the latter
+pair were the ones to be envied, as the heat thus engendered made the
+scantiness of the bedding less apparent.</p>
+
+<p>Granny M'Carty in the easiest chair and Grandad Rafferty in the next
+easiest, sat in silence on either side of the little stove that did
+double duty as heater and cooker. Presently<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> they both fell nodding,
+and in their dreams wandered away to the green fields of Erin, living
+over again in their visions the days of their vanished youth.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i067.jpg" width="400" height="336" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;TO ADMIRE THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now that there was no immediate need for action, Mrs. M'Carty gathered
+the little <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Ellen in her arms and sank down on a stool behind the
+stove. And as she sat there Memory came and stood by her and pointed
+back to other and happier Christmas Eves when she and Michael had made
+many a plan to delight the hearts of their numerous brood. The plans
+were simple enough, to be sure, but the children were too healthily
+happy to be critical. She recalled the rare Christmas Day when turkey
+had graced their board, and Michael, in Sunday attire, had sat at the
+head of the table and labored manfully with the unfamiliar joints of
+the holiday bird.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i068.jpg" width="400" height="546" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;AND AS SHE SAT THERE MEMORY CAME AND STOOD BY HER&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"And now," her thought coming back to the present, "I've nothing for
+them children, barring the matter of a stick of candy that's hardly
+worth the mentioning, and for the Christmas eatings I've nought but a
+handful of apples the grocer gave Katy the morning, and a few
+potatoes, scarce enough for two apiece. And winter that long and
+dreary, and just my two hands to earn the bread to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> keep the souls in
+the whole of us. Oh, worra, worra, whatever shall I do without my
+Michael?" and Bridget, feeling herself practically alone, for Grandad
+and Granny still slumbered peacefully, gave vent to her feelings in a
+heavy sigh. The sound, however, was loud enough to rouse Grandad, who,
+in his assumed office of comforter-in-general to the M'Carty family,
+was ever on the alert to perform his duties. He leaned forward and
+looked anxiously into Bridget's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Biddy, darling," he cried, "sure ye're not grievin' on the blessid
+Christmas Eve? It's hard for yez with Michael dead an' gone, but
+grievin' won't bring him back. Think of them that ye have left,&mdash;them
+fine childers, an' Granny there. An' ye've me, but the saints know
+ye're betther off withoot me, that am just a care to yez and that lame
+I can't even lift a finger to help yez."</p>
+
+<p>"Now Grandad," cried Bridget, "it's I that am ashamed of you, I am,
+you that are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> a comfort, every minit, and no care to be speaking
+about. And I wasn't forgetting the children, either. They do be plenty
+of care, so they do, but they give a body a deal of comfort, and not a
+finger of them could I spare. And Granny there, sure she does be a bit
+cross now and then along with her rheumatism, but it keeps a body from
+thinking of worse things when she do be telling the faults of us. And
+when she's sleeping so sweet-like as she do be now, she's never a bit
+of care or worry. No, Daddy, it was of my hard work I was thinking,
+and wondering how I'd get enough to keep us alive this freezing
+winter."</p>
+
+<p>"Troth, now listen, Biddy!" said Grandad, ready with his word of
+cheer. "I was just afther dreamin' of a red hen, an' whenever I dream
+of a red hen, it's good news I'm soon hearin'."</p>
+
+<p>Granny awoke just in time to hear the last sentence.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Is it a hen ye dreamed ye were?" she queried. "It's because of eatin'
+that stuff that's not good for the hens, that gave yez them bad
+dreams."</p>
+
+<p>Then another phase of the cereal question presenting itself she turned
+to Mrs. M'Carty.</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget M'Carty, is it them same hen aitin's ye're givin' us for our
+dinner the morrow? Tell me that now?"</p>
+
+<p>So unexpectedly questioned as to her resources for the morrow's
+provisions, Bridget was startled into the admission that there was
+nothing in store save a few potatoes and the gift of apples; and the
+apples, like most gifts to the poor, could not be inspected too
+closely.</p>
+
+<p>"And it's all from my never getting pay for my washing. Not a penny
+did they give Katy, and me telling her to wait. Whatever they do be
+thinking a poor woman is washing their clothes for I do'no. To keep
+her hands red and sore, and her back just breaking<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> with the bending
+over the tub, belike. I was to be getting two dollars, and now they'll
+be waiting till after Christmas to pay, and it's us will be waiting
+till after Christmas to eat. Sure it's just nothing we have to expect
+for our Christmas dinner, bedad."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there now, honey," said Grandad Rafferty, undismayed at the
+prospect of a dinnerless day. "We'll never mind all that, for them
+that's expectin' nothin' will never have disappointment to be
+mournin'."</p>
+
+<p>Granny M'Carty, on hearing Bridget's recital broke forth into genuine
+Irish lamentations such as she had not indulged in since the news of
+Michael's untimely death, her wailings interspersed with the most
+direful prophecies of what was in store for the family.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Fifth_Episode"><i>Fifth Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">HERR BAUMG&Auml;RTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT SEVEN-THIRTY ON CHRISTMAS EVE</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-i.jpg" width="79" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><b><span class="hide">I</span>T</b> had been a very busy day in the Baumg&auml;rtner bakery, and now as the
+old Dutch clock on the wall struck seven, the clerks were flying
+hither and thither, wrapping up packages and plumping them into
+baskets, trying to get everything on their last loads, and at the same
+time to give polite service to the many customers coming and going.</p>
+
+<p>The Christmas puddings had not yet been delivered, but reposed in all
+their fruity richness on the white-covered table in the rear of the
+store, and exhaled such delicious odors that the whole air was
+permeated with what seemed the very essence of Christmas.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened, and this time Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner entered. In spite
+of the rush of business all the clerks stopped long enough to look at
+Miss Katrina, who had a smile and a "Merry Christmas!" for each. They<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+felt very kindly toward the bright girl who took such an interest in
+their families; who remembered to ask after Mrs. Reiman's asthma, and
+Grandfather Potter's rheumatism, and who often sent delicacies to
+their invalids.</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot all about the cake for the Widow M'Carty's children," she
+explained, "so I came early to get it. I will mark it, and you won't
+forget to see that it is delivered, will you?" she asked, beaming on
+all the clerks at once.</p>
+
+<p>Every clerk declared that Mrs. M'Carty should have her Christmas cake
+if it had to be taken to her in person.</p>
+
+<p>"Katrina, stay here one leetle while and help your Vater," said the
+baker as Katrina stopped before his desk, where he was busy making
+entries in a large ledger. "You vos joost in time. Dere is dose
+puddings. Wrap dem in dose papers and set dem on dot table by der
+door<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> oudt. Hans Kleinhardt comes soon mit der cards. Den he takes
+dose puddings and sends dem away."</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="wrapr" src="images/i077.jpg" width="200" height="337" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Oh, father," cried Katrina in dismay, "I haven't time. I just came
+down to get the cake for the Widow M'Carty's children, and the
+sleigh-ride party will call for me here in a few minutes. Couldn't one
+of the clerks do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nein, nein, Katrina, dose clerks have too much business already. If
+you vants dot cake for dose M'Cartys, den you wrop up dose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> puddings
+right away queek. No vork, no play, mein Katrina."</p>
+
+<p>Katrina slipped off her cloak and went to work. The first pudding had
+been wrapped up when the sound of bells was heard mingled with the
+shouts of happy voices. She hastened to the door, but found it was not
+her sleigh-ride party after all, and was returning to her task when
+she remembered the cake for the Widow. Selecting a round loaf with
+nuts and candied fruits dotted over the frosted surface, she took it
+back with her to the table, did it up, and set it on the shelf behind
+her. Taking a card, she wrote:</p>
+
+<p class="h5">
+"To Mrs. Michael M'Carty<br />
+with a Merry Christmas<br />
+from<br />
+Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner,"</p>
+
+<p>and was about to place it on the cake when another jingle of bells was
+heard. Catching<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> up the pudding, she hurried again to the front of the
+store, set the pudding on the table, and, unwittingly, dropped beside
+it the card bearing the Widow M'Carty's name. She opened the door, but
+the sleigh with its merry load passed on, and Katrina returned to her
+enforced labors.</p>
+
+<p>Max Schaub was collecting the last parcels for his load when he
+chanced to see the package on the table. He picked up the card and
+read,&mdash;"Mrs. Michael M'Carty."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless her sweet eyes,"&mdash;meaning Katrina, not the widow,&mdash;"'Tis I will
+see that this cake gets to the Widow M'Carty's children. Does she not
+ask after the leg of my lame August as if it were her very
+own,"&mdash;meaning Katrina, not the widow,&mdash;"and in my coat pocket have I
+not the singing-box she has sent him for Christmas,&mdash;and she with nine
+small kinder, too?"&mdash;meaning the widow, not Katrina.</p>
+
+<p>Thus soliloquizing, he marked a basket in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> which he deposited the
+pudding, and gave it to his driver, telling him to leave it at the
+widow's on the way back to the store.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i080.jpg" width="400" height="314" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;HE PICKED UP THE CARD AND READ&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Katrina tied up the second pudding and placed it on the table from
+which the first had been removed just as Clerk Reiman entered the
+door. Remembering Katrina's request, he went to the table, and reading
+the card,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> concluded that the package beside it contained the cake
+destined to make happy the nine small children of the Widow M'Carty.
+He put it in a basket, marked it for the widow, and gave it to his
+special driver, who was just starting off with his load.</p>
+
+<p>Katrina's mind was on the anticipated joys of the evening, and she
+performed her task mechanically, thinking all the time of Johann and
+longing for the arrival of the sleighing party.</p>
+
+<p>Ten more puddings were enveloped in their wrappings of lace-edged
+tissue paper; ten more puddings were deposited, one by one, on the
+table in the front of the store; ten more clerks, seeing the card
+beside a package,&mdash;for each in his hurry forgot to drop the card in
+his basket,&mdash;consigned a pudding to the care of his own driver,
+charging him to deliver it, without fail, to the Widow M'Carty with a
+"Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Katrina had wrapped up the last pudding, when the sound of a horn, a
+chorus of voices, and the music of sleigh-bells caused her to run to
+the door once more. She opened it to come face to face with the
+gallant Johann. Joyfully donning her wraps, she hastened away to join
+the sleighing party, leaving the thirteenth pudding to its fate.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the baker came out of his office, and seeing the
+puddings gone, nodded his head with satisfaction and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Dot Hans was one goot man. Him I haf nefer to vatch. He does joost
+vot I tells him, effery time already."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>But where was the faithful Hans Kleinhardt who was personally
+responsible for the safe delivery of those thirteen puddings?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>His supper finished, Hans was hastening back to the store with the
+important cards in his pocket. A shout, a scurrying to avoid a runaway
+horse, a hurt man, a crowd, an ambulance,&mdash;and Hans Kleinhardt,
+unconscious of all around him, was on his way to the City Hospital.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i083.jpg" width="400" height="262" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>An hour later a surgeon, with an air of satisfaction, said to a quiet
+little nurse:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A beautiful fracture,&mdash;compound,&mdash;man in good condition,&mdash;will
+recover nicely,&mdash;but don't let him talk for twenty-four hours."</p>
+
+<p>And in that man's pocket lay thirteen cards, and <i>they</i> never said a
+word.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Sixth_Episode"><i>Sixth Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE EIGHT O'CLOCK CHRISTMAS EVE</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-e.jpg" width="82" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><b><span class="hide">E</span>VERY</b> ill known or imagined by the pessimistic Granny had been voiced
+in graphic predictions, but at last even her vocabulary of grumblings
+was exhausted, and she hobbled off to her pallet,&mdash;the thump, thump,
+thump of her cane beating a resentful retreat.</p>
+
+<p>Grandad still sat in his corner, and Bridget left her uncomfortable
+seat and dropped into Granny's vacant chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, it ain't much like Christmas Eve I'm thinkin'," she said,
+glancing at Grandad. "There's the difference in the look of things
+since Mike, me darling, is gone&mdash;him that always went into town, when
+he stayed home the day before Christmas, to buy presents for me an'
+the childer. I remimber, yes, I do, 'cause I aint forgot it yet, the
+elligant bonnit he bought me wanst. What with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> feathers standing this
+way an' that, I was the fine lady of all Fifth Street."</p>
+
+<p>"Ye wor that," answered Grandad, looking up with a twinkle in his kind
+gray eyes. "Ye wor that, Bridget, me girl, an' ye're the same this
+day, fithers or no fithers."</p>
+
+<p>"It's the feathers makes the bird, Daddy," sighed Bridget, but his
+pleasant word softened the despairing look on her care-worn face.</p>
+
+<p>"Fithers makes the birds, did ye say, Bridget?" continued Grandad.
+"What kind of rasonin' is that, sure? Nivir a fither have I seen that
+was not projuced by wan bird or anither. An' what difference does it
+make what kind of fithers a bird has whin he's picked, tell me that?
+For me taste, a bird is betther withoot fithers at all, at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well," said Bridget, "it's you that have the cheery word,
+Grandad, and it's good to hear, but to-night I'm that beat out I
+couldn't throw a stick at Dooley if he came to the door this minit."
+Mrs. M'Carty <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>looked about the room, so scant with furniture and so
+cheerless.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i088.jpg" width="400" height="551" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KATRINA BAUMG&Auml;RTNER!&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use trying&mdash;" she began, but at that moment a knock that
+fairly rattled the whole shanty called her to the door. It also woke
+up Granny M'Carty, who thrust her head from the bedclothes and peered
+into the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a mistake," she growled as a round package was handed to her
+daughter, and a strange voice said:</p>
+
+<p>"A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner!"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a mistake, I say," she continued, as the delivery boy
+disappeared in the darkness, and Mrs. M'Carty, with hands trembling
+from excitement, carried the mysterious package to the lean-to.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, then, and it's no mistake," she whispered to herself as she
+opened the package and disclosed to view a beautiful Christmas
+pudding. "It's Miss Katrina, the darling,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> that's remembered us this
+night. One, two, three," she counted, as in imagination she divided
+the gift among the little M'Cartys. "Four, five, six,&mdash;sure, I must be
+more sparing of my pieces,&mdash;but bless the sweet Ellen, she can't eat
+any, and I'm not needing any myself,&mdash;but Grandad, and Granny, they
+must have a bit;&mdash;seven, eight, nine,&mdash;it's a trifle small, to be
+sure, but enough for a taste for the darlings. If Granny hadn't heard
+the boy, what a fine surprise I'd have for her; but she'll be wanting
+to know what the likes of me is getting for Christmas. She's that
+curious, she sleeps with her other eye open just to be seeing what she
+can hear. But I'll be letting her think it was a mistake, so I will."</p>
+
+<p>Bang! whack! bang! another thundering noise shook the rickety door.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you it was a mistake," screamed Granny. "He's come to take it
+away from yez."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i091.jpg" width="400" height="448" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;SHE PLACED BOTH PUDDINGS IN HER APRON&quot;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. M'Carty's heart sank. The gift evidently was a mistake.
+Concealing the pudding, divested of its wrappings, under her apron,
+she hastened to the door, to be handed another package with the same
+Christmas greeting from Miss Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner.</p>
+
+<p>Quick-witted and anxious to deceive the keen eyes and ears of old
+Granny, she placed both puddings in her apron, and with an audible
+sigh and lament that "poor folks couldn't have even the things that
+was give to them," she returned with renewed pleasure to her problem
+in division.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," said she, "I must begin my count all over. It's Miss Katrina,
+bless her sweet eyes, knew one pudding for eleven of us would be just
+a bite. Now it's two puddings for eleven of us. I wish I had a
+yardstick and a 'rithmetic to measure them, so I do.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Christmas Eve after all," she continued, regarding with pleasure
+the two plump puddings, but the sound of approaching<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> footsteps caused
+her to start again in fear that it might be as Granny had prophesied,
+all a mistake. She slipped quietly to the door and reached it in time
+to avert the knock which might have aroused Granny from her dozing.</p>
+
+<p>"A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner," shouted a jolly boy as
+he placed a package in Mrs. M'Carty's hands. There was no mistaking
+this greeting, nor the contents of the parcel.</p>
+
+<p>"How many be she a-sending?" she whispered cautiously, and added by
+way of explanation, "The darlings is asleep, and I wouldn't want them
+to be knowing what a fine Christmas is coming for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, vell, ain'dt one enough?" laughed the boy as he disappeared
+puddingless, leaving the bewildered Mrs. M'Carty in possession of the
+third treasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Now Grandad is nodding, and it's meself that's thinking there's no
+telling how<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> many more Santa Clauses is coming to the M'Carty roof
+this night. I'll just take the light into the lean-to, and busy myself
+with a few pieces to fold down for my ironing; and if any more
+presents do be coming, they'll be taking them to the other door. Then
+Granny won't be hearing what's going on at all, at all."</p>
+
+<p>The removal of the light proved a wise precaution, though done in
+innocence of the avalanche of puddings which was fatefully descending
+upon the M'Carty household.</p>
+
+<p>Greater and greater was the surprise of the widow as pudding after
+pudding, and pudding after pudding was handed in, until twelve goodly
+brown concoctions graced her impromptu table,&mdash;a long white
+ironing-board.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I'm that excited, I'm fit to tie up," laughed Mrs. M'Carty, as
+she viewed the bounty of the unsuspecting Katrina. "Twelve puddings
+for twelve of us, even one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> for little Ellen. It ain't such a sum as I
+minded. Blessings on Miss Katrina,&mdash;may the saints have her in their
+keeping,&mdash;we've a pudding apiece this Christmas. It's thankful I am,
+and I'm not complaining, but I could' a' wished she'd tried a little
+variety. Bedad, if there wasn't so many of them, they'd seem to be
+more, so they would."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Seventh_Episode"><i>Seventh Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">HERR BAUMG&Auml;RTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT TEN O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-i.jpg" width="79" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">I</span>T</b> was ten o'clock on Christmas Eve, and had it not been for the
+holiday decorations, Baker Baumg&auml;rtner's establishment would have
+presented a somewhat forlorn appearance. The shelves, which earlier in
+the day were filled with bread, cakes, and confections of all kinds,
+were now almost bereft of their store, and the whole aspect of the
+place was disorderly and confused. Boxes and baskets, papers and
+strings cluttered every available corner. The clerks and drivers,
+congratulating themselves that they were finishing so early in the
+evening, had just begun the task of clearing up, when the baker
+entered the store.</p>
+
+<p>"Donnerwetter!" he exclaimed, on seeing the untidy interior. "Vat a
+looking place is dis! Oh, vell, I tink I can stand it ven it fills my
+pockets mit moneys."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He stepped behind the brass screen that kept possible intruders at a
+respectful distance from the money-drawer. Opening it, he found that
+the contents of the drawer had grown very perceptibly during his
+absence, and he surveyed his gains with a feeling of deep
+self-gratulation.</p>
+
+<p>The Widow M'Carty's cake and the thirteen puddings must have been
+bread cast upon the waters that day, and so rich was the quality it
+had returned at once, many fold.</p>
+
+<p>"Der Widow M'Carty's cake, and der orphans' t'ings were nodings," he
+soliloquized. "But dose puddings! Dere was gut rich stuff in dose, but
+I got plenty moneys, I can spare dose puddings to my customers ven I
+gets dem back sometime all right."</p>
+
+<p>Looking through his change window, he saw his clerks, who evidently
+had made their employer's interests their own, busily rearranging
+everything before going home, and transforming the chaotic condition
+of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> store into one of order. The fact of their fidelity was very
+manifest, and may have reminded him of all the pleasures of Christmas
+Eve which they had forfeited in consequence of his extra holiday
+trade. According to his custom, he must bestow on each a Christmas
+remembrance, but it was not in the spirit of a cheerful giver that he
+contemplated the act.</p>
+
+<p>"Himmel!" he said under his breath. "Twelve clerks and twelve drivers,
+and Hans Kleinhardt, my head man, besides all dose bakers. It makes me
+poor ven I am joost rich," and he sighed regretfully at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>The widow's cake and the thirteen puddings, although his voluntary
+gift, had not been spared without a wrench, and now to be confronted
+with the necessity of adding to them was too much for human
+nature,&mdash;or at least for Baumg&auml;rtner nature. He turned as if
+addressing some one over his shoulder,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>&mdash;probably his good angel,
+whose winged company is especially active on Christmas Eve,&mdash;and
+muttered reproachfully, "You expect me to be one Santa Claus again?"</p>
+
+<p>However, he knew that he could not escape his kind intent, and being
+withal a just man, yielded with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>From the money-drawer he took a crisp five-dollar bill, laid it on the
+desk before him, and regarded it thoughtfully. The longer he looked at
+it the harder it seemed to part with twenty-four of them, and with an
+emphatic shake of the head he thrust it back again. He next selected a
+bright silver dollar, but, true to his better nature, he acknowledged
+its insufficiency, and swept it after the five-dollar bill. His third
+move was a compromise. He took twenty-four two-dollar bills, looked at
+them for a moment regretfully, then gathered them in his hand and
+walked toward where the clerks were just finishing and locking up for
+the night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i101.jpg" width="400" height="435" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;GOTT IN HIMMEL! DONNER UND BLITZEN!&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As he passed through the store, he glanced here and there with the
+keen eye of the master, stopping suddenly as he espied a package which
+looked suspiciously like a Christmas pudding. A sniff and a touch was
+enough to satisfy this expert. Down, down deep in his pocket went the
+precious bills, while the air reverberated with German expletives.</p>
+
+<p>"Gott in Himmel! Donner und Blitzen!" he thundered in tones that had
+not been heard in that store since the baker had discovered salt
+instead of sugar on a large batch of cinnamon kuchen.</p>
+
+<p>The alarmed clerks stared at the baker in consternation. Two or three
+of the new ones retreated to the door, but the braver hurried to their
+irate employer, who stood glowering like a thunder-cloud and pointing
+to a certain round object reposing innocently on a table.</p>
+
+<p>"Der Teufel! Was meint das? Das geht<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> nicht," shrieked the baker, who
+was apt, under excitement, to fall into his native tongue. "Who has
+not his pudding got? Wo ist dat Hans Kleinhardt?"</p>
+
+<p>The head clerk could not be found, and as none of the other
+clerks knew aught of the Christmas pudding scheme, the direst
+misunderstanding ensued. In the midst of the excitement the front door
+opened and Katrina rushed in, her cheeks aglow and her enthusiasm
+beautiful to behold were there no puddings in the case.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Father, I ran in&mdash;" she began, then stopped suddenly. A glance at
+her father told her that some dreadful thing had happened to disturb
+the peaceful serenity that usually pervaded Herr Baumg&auml;rtner's
+establishment. The baker turned to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat did you do mit dose Christmas puddings, already?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Father," answered Katrina, "I wrapped them up and put them on
+the table<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> by the door, just as you told me to, before I went to the
+sleigh-ride. They must be here somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>A vigorous search for the puddings ensued, but it was a fruitless
+quest.</p>
+
+<p>After a little, when the baker had calmed down somewhat, Katrina
+ventured to tell her errand.</p>
+
+<p>"I came in to see if the Widow M'Carty's cake had been sent to her,
+and if it hasn't, the sleigh-ride party is here and we will drive down
+and take it to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Dat cake? I know nodings about it. Did any von send the Widow M'Carty
+her cake?" turning to the clerks.</p>
+
+<p>"The Widow M'Carty's cake!" cried all the clerks in unison. "Why, I
+sent it to her!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Widow M'Carty's cake!" chorused twelve highly excited drivers.
+"Why, I took it to her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mein Gott! Mein Gott!" ejaculated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> the baker as the fate of his
+puddings dawned upon him. "Twelve cakes to the Widow M'Carty, und day
+was all puddings!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i105.jpg" width="400" height="259" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;TWELVE CAKES TO THE WIDOW M&#39;CARTY!&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Eighth_Episode"><i>Eighth Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE TEN-O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i021-57-85-106-131.jpg" width="250" height="172" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-g.jpg" width="84" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">G</span>REAT</b> is the mission of the plum pudding to elevate and refine. Poor
+Mrs. M'Carty, who had been too tired even to throw a stick at the
+Dooleys, and had meant only to wait for the return of the children to
+seek her much-shared bed, now began to bethink herself of active
+preparations for the unexpected festivities of the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The fire was encouraged to bestir itself, a kettle of water was put on
+to heat, and pails and scrubbing-brush were brought from the lean-to.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the returned sightseers burst into the room, Katy and
+Norah both talking at once. Terence and Denny were not far behind in
+their utterances, and though perhaps more coherent, were certainly not
+less enthusiastic. It was well that the eloquence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> of tongues spoke in
+their wonder-filled eyes, for otherwise no mere mortal could have
+interpreted the steadily rising tones and varied inflections which
+were excitedly mingled in a Babel of sounds.</p>
+
+<p>The scraping of snow and the confusion attendant upon their sudden
+entrance filled Mrs. M'Carty with new alarm, but she collected her
+wits enough to whisper with desperate vehemence, while she waved her
+scrubbing-cloth wildly:</p>
+
+<p>"Whist now, will you, and mind that I don't hear another word out of
+your heads, or you'll be waking up Granny, for upon my soul, her eyes
+ain't been shut more than this blessed two minutes. I hope to goodness
+you won't be disturbing her, for I be just going to do up her cap for
+the Christmas. Now off with yourselves to bed, and not another word
+out of your heads to-night, till to-morrow. Och, Katy dear! What would
+you be telling me that for again? Sure you've repeated it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> three
+times, not counting the twice of Terence's. Now, now, boys, will you
+mind your mother, and go to bed like good children, and be getting up
+bright and early with Christmas morning faces on you?"</p>
+
+<p>The boys obeyed and were soon deep in dreams in which "cops" were
+selling newspapers out in the cold, and newsboys were in Huyler's
+warming their feet while ladies in fluffy furs treated them to candy
+and ice-cream.</p>
+
+<p>The widow bestowed a grateful look on the two lads asleep in the bunk
+which had been built in the little jog between the kitchen and
+lean-to. Then she tiptoed past them into the inner room where she
+found Katy and Norah whispering excitedly and with no prospect of
+cessation until their mother's voice reminded them of their promise to
+be quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, child of grace, get into the bed," she said to Katy, "and don't
+be keeping<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> yourselves awake till the morning, and don't be forgetting
+to say your prayers."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. M'Carty slipped back to the kitchen, where Grandad sat dozing in
+his one-armed rocking-chair, and immediately began to busy herself
+with fresh energy.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="wrap" src="images/i110.jpg" width="300" height="366" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Off with your shirt, Grandad," she said, cheerfully, as the old man
+gave a sleepy jerk to his head. "It's the best one you have, and I'll
+wash it out in a minute and iron it to-night. You can wrap that old
+shawl about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> you, and while your shirt's a-soaking, I'll give you a
+brush over with a bit of soap and water, for it'll be that lively in
+the morning, there'll never be the bit of a chance, at all; and I'm
+not one to leave till the proper time them things I've the opportunity
+of doing now."</p>
+
+<p>The shirt being consigned to the soaking process, Bridget next
+attacked her father. When his ablutions were finished, she pinned a
+shawl around his shoulders, and moved his chair nearer the fire. With
+his cheeks glowing from their recent administration of soap and water,
+Grandad watched the washing and starching of his blue gingham shirt,
+thinking the while of its stiffness, which would encase him on the
+morrow, but at the same time regarding it as one of those trials to be
+borne without complaint.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. M'Carty hung the shirt close to the fire to dry, while she
+"scrubbed thot strip in front of the sthove;" then she left the
+strip,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> "bekase," as she said in her state of bewilderment and joy,
+"Oi musht do the shirt whiles the irons is hot, an' it do beat all how
+fasht thim irons does het oop whin ye ain't waitin' on thim." So,
+getting up from her knees, and leaving a good-sized puddle for future
+attention, she proceeded to pound the iron on Grandad's shirt and one
+neck-cloth, turning now and then to the sweet-tempered old man, who
+sat smiling at her as she bustled to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye'll be that fine to-morrow," said Bridget, "that you'll not be
+after knowing yourself, sure. And your hair will be combed that
+smooth, you'll look ten years younger. It does be, I mind, it's the
+hair that adds the years to your life."</p>
+
+<p>Grandad Rafferty, his spirits undepressed by what sufferings the
+ordeal of starch and comb might have in store for him, tapped his
+empty pipe on the edge of the stove and responded softly,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis ye, Biddy M'Carty, would hearten up a ghost, so ye would."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a quare way ye have of jabberin' all through the night that a
+body can't get a wink of slape," came the querulous tones of Granny
+from her pallet in the farther corner of the inner room. "An' it's
+that cold in here&mdash;an' why in the world do ye be burnin' the fire in
+the night an' wasthin' the wood, an' we'll be sittin' 'round freezin'
+to-morra with no fire at all,&mdash;so we will."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Bridget's spirits fell, but the next instant they rose
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a bit, now, Granny, and I'll be bringing you a warm iron to your
+feet, and before you know it you'll be dreaming of the smell of fresh
+peat coming in the door."</p>
+
+<p>"Dhramin' is it, Oi'd be?" growled Granny, and in a moment more her
+cane was heard thumping vigorously on the floor. Bridget and Grandad
+had scarcely more than time to exchange a sympathetic glance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> when
+Granny appeared with her red flannel petticoat over her nightgown and
+a black and white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She came
+hobbling in, sniffing the sudsy moisture and complaining:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i114.jpg" width="400" height="295" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;IT&#39;S MORE ROOMETIZ FOR ME, SO IT IS&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"It's more roometiz for me, so it is.&mdash;Begorra, but it's piercin' cold
+in there.&mdash;It's<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> you that has the comfortable spot, Misther Rafferty.
+It do be that draughty when yer comin' through this way," and thus
+speaking her mind on a few points, Granny made her way slowly to her
+chair and seated herself in it.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime Bridget was quietly raising geysers of suds in her endeavors
+to conceal the luckless cap.</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget M'Carty," demanded Granny, "what on earth do ye be workin' at
+there that ye be puttin' out me eyes fairly, with splashin' soapsuds
+in them? Is it my cap yer sousin' up and down, now? Indade, then, and
+it is, an' me just wantin' it. No wonder I'll be gettin' more pain in
+my bones, with the wind blowin' like a penethratin' blast through the
+windy, an' me with no cap, an' ye kapin' yerself warm be exercisin'."</p>
+
+<p>"Och, now, Granny," said Bridget, hoping to pacify her, "sure I
+thought it would be a grand surprise for you when you woke<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> in the
+morning, to see them tie-ends hanging before your eyes all starched
+up, that Miss Barney's mother might just be envying you."</p>
+
+<p>"Envyin' me, would she?" replied Granny. "Like enough 'twill not be
+dry by mornin' at all, an' whin I do put it on, I'll be gettin' that
+pain in me head agin."</p>
+
+<p>Grandad's conciliatory remark was never heard, for Granny's mutterings
+continued while her patient daughter-in-law starched and ironed the
+cap. When it was finished and hung by the fire to air, Bridget, with a
+weary smile, turned to her father.</p>
+
+<p>"Come now, Daddy," she said, "you'll not be wanting to get up if you
+don't be getting to your bed soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thin, if ye're meanin' to put the light out in me face, I'll go
+back to my bed before ye do," snapped Granny, and so she went.</p>
+
+<p>When Grandad had been snugly tucked into his cot in the kitchen, and
+the pails and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> mops put out of sight, Bridget lay down to a
+well-earned sleep and dreamed that the fairies were pelting her with
+puddings, every third one of which fell into her mouth and was
+swallowed whole.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Ninth_Episode"><i>Ninth Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">HERR BAUMG&Auml;RTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT CHRISTMAS DAY</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-h.jpg" width="77" height="100" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">H</span>ERR</b> Baumg&auml;rtner's first impulse, on finding out what had become of
+his Christmas puddings, was to send at once to the Widow M'Carty's and
+have them returned to him. Had it not been for the lateness of the
+hour, doubtless this is what would have happened.</p>
+
+<p>But the night brings counsel, even in the matter of plum puddings, and
+by morning the baker had concluded that it was wiser to let the
+unlucky gifts remain in their misfit quarters. Perhaps Katrina's
+remark, that his customers would be wroth if they found they had eaten
+puddings that had been stored for a night, even, in so well-inhabited
+an abode, influenced his decision.</p>
+
+<p>However that may be, the baker said to Katrina as he sat down to his
+breakfast:</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, Katrina, if we haf given somedings<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> away in the wrong place, we
+will not now take it back. But Katrina, dose beautiful puddings, and
+dose M'Cartys! ach! ach!" and he shook his head sorrowfully at the
+thought that these culinary triumphs should have fallen to those so
+incapable of appreciating a wonderful Baumg&auml;rtner plum pudding.</p>
+
+<p>In the eyes of the baker, to give twelve Christmas puddings to the
+M'Cartys was indeed to cast one's pearls before swine.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Baumg&auml;rtner could not remain out of sorts for any length of time,
+and when he found by his plate a gift from his beloved Katrina of a
+long meerschaum pipe from the Fatherland, he smiled and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Ven I smokes dat pipe den I forget dose plum puddings."</p>
+
+<p>The pipe, indeed, performed a placatory mission, for as the first
+rings of its smoke curled upward, it became a veritable pipe of
+peace.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Later the baker and Katrina attended church together, and at the close
+of the service Herr Baumg&auml;rtner left his daughter and wended his way
+to the bakery.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="wrapr" src="images/i121.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>He tarried in front of the window occupied by the Christmas tree,
+whose gaily trimmed branches recalled to him so vividly the years when
+his little Fritz had furnished the joy and merriment of the holiday
+season. How the wee baby had bounded,&mdash;almost out of his mother's
+arms,&mdash;at sight of his first tree! Now the baker had only Katrina to
+cheer him, while he, in turn, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> devoted to his daughter. His
+present errand to the bakery was to get some of her favorite Marzipan
+for their Christmas dinner, it having slipped his mind the night
+before in the distraction of the pudding calamity.</p>
+
+<p>As he unlocked the door and entered the store, almost the first object
+to claim his attention was the last Christmas pudding "left standing
+alone; all its nut-brown companions labelled and gone." None of his
+clerks had dared to risk his position by meddling with that package.
+Herr Baumg&auml;rtner picked up the package, saying with a sigh, as he
+unwrapped it:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, you might as well go in the window and make a good show.
+Maybe I can sell you for New Year's day."</p>
+
+<p>While the baker was busy arranging his wares to make room for the
+pudding, a man came sauntering slowly up the street, pausing as he
+came to the window. He was clad in a rough suit which here and there
+showed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> the want of a prudent feminine stitch. The first glance showed
+him to be simply an honest Hibernian laborer. Further scrutiny
+disclosed the fact that he was a man who had passed through unusual
+experiences, for his bronzed face told of hardship and exposure. At
+each footfall he looked up imploringly at the passer-by, only to turn
+away with a sigh of disappointment. As he looked at the good things in
+the baker's window, he said to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my poor Bridget and the little ones are likely fasting, when they
+ought to be having the fill of the table. And myself looking every
+place for them till the feet of me is wore off entirely. The cottage
+is empty, and the priest is a new one, and can't tell me nothing.
+Mebbe they've gone to the old country, or mebbe they're all&mdash;" and
+here he shuddered and shut his lips tightly, for he would not admit
+the worst.</p>
+
+<p>"Be jabers," his thoughts taking on a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> new turn, as he caught sight of
+a pudding being placed in the window before him, "if I could just find
+them, wouldn't I make the mouths of them water with that pudding. Like
+enough Patsy and Maggie and Norah and Katy ain't had a bite to eat of
+anything decent these six months. Heaven bless the spalpeens, how they
+would fall on that pudding! And me darling Biddy, bedad, ain't tasted
+one since she was living with the Church of Ireland minister in
+Limerick. And here I be, with money enough to buy them everything
+good, and not one out of them left to be buying for. Oh, well, I've no
+mind in me to eat myself, but I might as well step in and buy them two
+buns," and thereupon he entered the store.</p>
+
+<p>The new customer did not look especially promising; still, the baker
+had known far shabbier individuals to invest a dollar, even, on a
+holiday, so he advanced with a smile and said:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i125.jpg" width="400" height="386" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;HIS GLANCE FELL UPON SOMETHING WHITE THAT LAY ON THE
+COUNTER&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"Vat can I do for you, my friend?"</p>
+
+<p>Pointing to the large, well-sugared buns, the man began, "Give me
+two&mdash;" when his glance fell upon something white that lay on the
+counter,&mdash;that ubiquitous card that had wrought so much mischief; the
+card bearing the name and address of Mrs. Michael M'Carty.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat's the matter mit you?" said the baker impatiently, anxious for
+him to complete his order.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my God, what's this?" cried the man, snatching up the card.</p>
+
+<p>"Dot? Vy, dat is one card to go mit one cake to the Widow M'Carty."</p>
+
+<p>"Widdy, widdy, is it?" cried the man, angrily. "Sure the man that
+calls her that will answer to me for it. Why would she be a widdy, and
+me working and saving as a respectable husband should for her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait awhile,&mdash;tell me,&mdash;was you Mr. Widow M'Carty?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Who would I be then, but Michael M'Carty? It's some of them
+blathering Barneys that's after calling me Bridget a widdy. Their
+lying tongues are all the time wagging with some scandal on a woman
+that hasn't a good strong man to protect her and the childers. But
+tell me quick, where are they, and are they alive, all alive?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hear my Katrina speak about dem. But vere haf you been this long
+time? I t'ought you was drownded, already."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, 'twas meself thought so too, the whole of the night, and I
+wished I'd never stepped me foot on that old tub of a <i>Go-Between</i>,
+for it was the devil's own. When we got in Lake Superior, a storm came
+after us sudden, and we all went down together. I was in a hole of a
+place I had to slape in,&mdash;sure a dog couldn't close his eye in that
+corner,&mdash;and in the middle of the night, down they came hustling every
+one of us<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> out. 'Say yer prayers,' says they, 'for we're a-goin' to
+the bottom, and the Lord help us. There's not one of yez will see yer
+darlints again.' The water was terrible boisterous, and grabbed
+everythin' off the decks. Faith, it wouldn't have been so bad if we'd
+a place left for the sole of our foot, but she was gone entirely. A
+board hit me and I hung on to it, and Pat Sweeny came up from down in
+the water and hung on with me, and the noises of that night I'll never
+be getting out of me head. When it come daylight we see the
+pilot-house a-floating, and we got on that, and Pat Sweeny waved his
+red handkerchief, and I tried to push us along with the board, to the
+land we see a long way off. In the middle of the morning, we spied a
+little boat coming to us, and may the blessed Virgin spare them two
+men in it as long as they live. It was a bare enough place we come to,
+but 'twas the land, and may I be struck dead if ever I take me two
+feet off it, for it's not the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> likes of me will set foot on one of
+them traps of the devil again."</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, Gott, das war wundervoll, wundervoll," said the baker, "but tell
+me vy you stayed so long away?"</p>
+
+<p>"And what would the likes of me be doing with everything gone, but to
+be getting some money to come with? There were some copper mines
+there, and Pat and me went digging in the mines, and the engineer
+dying sudden-like with a fall down the shaft, it was me was there to
+be getting his job. I wrote Bridget as soon as ever I thought she
+would be looking for me coming home, and told her I wouldn't be there
+till I could earn some money to come by land, and what with the fine
+engineer wages I was getting, she needn't be expecting me till the end
+of the season. When I came home with me pile of money to give them all
+a grand Christmas, I found 'em lost on me, and I've looked every place
+these three days, and never a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> sound of them have I heard till now,
+and God bless ye for the good words you're giving me this day.&mdash;Troth,
+now that I'm after finding them, I ought to be buying that grand
+pudding in the windy," and diving into his pocket, he produced a roll
+of bills.</p>
+
+<p>"Nein, nein," said the baker, waving the money away, "dat pudding was
+not made to sell, it was made to gif away. You takes dat pudding to
+Mrs. M'Carty mit the gompliments of Herr Baumg&auml;rtner."</p>
+
+<p>With a hearty Merry Christmas, Michael M'Carty hurried away with the
+pudding in one hand, and the card in the other. Herr Baumg&auml;rtner,
+taking his Marzipan, went home to tell Katrina the news, laughing over
+his Christmas joke, and chuckling to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Dat is vere dat pudding seems to belong!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/banner3.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h2is">The Misfit Christmas Puddings</p>
+
+<h2 id="Tenth_Episode"><i>Tenth Episode</i></h2>
+
+<p class="h3">WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE CHRISTMAS DAY</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i021-57-85-106-131.jpg" width="250" height="172" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="dropimg" src="images/letter-m.jpg" width="100" height="131" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">M</span>RS. M'CARTY</b> rose early on Christmas morning, her mind bewildered by
+the fantastic visions of the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, them puddings was all a dream," she said to herself, as she
+kindled her fire, "and what's the good of such dreams as that, but
+just to make a body discouraged with the truth of the daytimes? But,
+any how, I'll look at where I dreamed I put them, and then my mind
+will be easy for me work."</p>
+
+<p>More skeptical than hopeful, she went to the place where she had
+hidden them, and lo! to her great joy there they were,&mdash;twelve
+luscious, fruity puddings.</p>
+
+<p>"And they're just bursting with richness, and begging to be ate," she
+said. "It'll be a grand day for the childer, and they shall have their
+fill, for it's many a long, hungry<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> day they'll be seeing before
+another Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast was never a protracted function in the M'Carty household,
+but to Mrs. M'Carty, who was anxious to begin the festive preparations
+which the puddings had made possible, the scanty meal seemed unusually
+prolonged. Nothing but action could keep her from syndicating her
+secret before the proper moment, so while the repast was in progress,
+she hurried about doing, undoing, and doing over again, various
+household tasks. Finally Granny M'Carty, who had noticed Bridget's
+restlessness, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Are ye crazy, then, Bridget M'Carty? It's the third time this day
+ye've spread me bed, and ye'll not lave a whole fither in me pillow
+with yer senseless beatin's."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. M'Carty, ceasing from her labor, "if you're done
+with your breakfast, listen to me. Praise to the good Saint<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Antony, I
+found a ten-cent piece yesterday, I'd been saving that long I forgot I
+had it entirely, and with the help of Grandad's two lucky pennies he
+was never intending to spend,&mdash;may the saints spare him long to
+us,&mdash;I've a stick of candy apiece for the whole of you."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i134.jpg" width="400" height="247" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;A STICK OF CANDY APIECE&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"Hoorooh!" shouted all the little McCartys in chorus.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Blessin's on the good Saint Antony!" said Grandad Rafferty, beaming
+on the excited children.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop yer sphakin' with such a noise!" cried Granny. "Them racketin's
+would deafen the saints themselves, so they would."</p>
+
+<p>"Then would them saints be getting ear-trumpets like Tim Barney's
+grandmother?" queried little Norah, climbing on the back of Granny's
+chair and peering over her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Go along with yez, an' don't be askin' such irriverent questions, an'
+kape yerself from the back of me chair, a-shakin' me roometiz all over
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Bridget thumped on the table for quiet and proceeded to distribute the
+sticks of candy, each wrapped in a separate piece of paper. Grandad
+unrolled the paper and eyed his stick of candy lovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Troth, it's peppermint," he said, "an' there's nothin' like
+peppermint to comfort a body's stomick. It's that long since I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> tasted
+it, I'd clane forgot how it looked, bedad."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Bridget M'Carty," said Granny M'Carty, "It's ye that might have
+minded me health an' remembered that lemin with roometiz is like
+pourin' ile on fire. Ye must know, if ye have any sense,&mdash;which I
+misdoubt,&mdash;that roometiz hates lemin as bad as the devil hates holy
+wather," and she sniffed contemptuously.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that, Granny," said Grandad. "Bridget rolled up them candy
+and never took note of the kinds, so there'd be no strivin' with the
+childers. I'll take yer lemin an' ye're welcome to me peppermint.
+'Twill warm yer stomick an' yer feelin's, an' acushla machree, it's
+not so hard on the teeth ayther," and he surrendered his candy with a
+charming smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Me teeth are as good as yours any day," retorted Granny, but she did
+not hesitate to make the exchange. However, she inspected<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> the candy
+carefully and wiped it on the corner of her shawl before applying it
+to her mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then," said Mrs. M'Carty, after the candy had disappeared,
+"listen while I do be telling you the order of the day. You boys,
+Denny and Terence, slip across to the pile of lumber handy on the
+tow-path, and bring me back three wide boards. We'll borry them for a
+table, and take them back when we're done. My family is all going to
+sit down to once to their Christmas dinner, the same as them rich
+folks do on the avenue. And there'll be a place for me poor Michael,
+that was and isn't. Run along now, boys, and pick clean ones, and you,
+Katy and Norah, wash the dishes, and when the table is fixed you can
+all go on the avenue and look in the windys, but mind you're home when
+the bells are ringing for twelve."</p>
+
+<p>Their tasks were quickly finished, and eight little M'Cartys set off
+for their outing, two-year-old<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> Patsy being bestowed in a box nailed
+on an old sled, and drawn by the others in turn. Grandad Rafferty
+watched them until they were out of sight and sound.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a fine time they'll be afther havin'," he said as he took little
+Ellen on his knee and settled himself comfortably in his chair,&mdash;or as
+comfortably as the unwonted stiffness of shirt and neckcloth would
+permit. Then he whispered a wonderful story to the baby, and though
+she could not understand a word, it served its purpose, for presently
+the little head nodded and the big blue eyes closed in slumber.</p>
+
+<p>Granny M'Carty, who from the inner room had herself been observing the
+departure of her grandchildren toward the habitations of affluence,
+now returned to her seat by the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis I would never let them childer go wanderin' off like that, with
+a chance of their never comin' home agin," she commented,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> "but
+annyhow it'll be sthill for a bit."</p>
+
+<p>The children safely out of the way, Mrs. M'Carty began at once her
+arrangements for the feature of the day,&mdash;the Christmas dinner so
+bountifully provided with dessert.</p>
+
+<p>She took from her chest her one linen table cloth, woven in a most
+elaborate design of shamrocks. Her husband had seen and admired the
+pattern, displayed in a shop window, one St. Patrick's Day, and it
+being in the first year of his marriage, when there was but Bridget to
+share his purse, he had bought the cloth and given it to her for a
+present. The occasions which had been deemed worthy so beautiful a
+table-cover, had been few and far removed, so the linen was "every bit
+as good as new."</p>
+
+<p>"You're fine enough for the queen's use," said Mrs. M'Carty,
+apostrophizing the cloth as she spread it carefully on her improvised
+dining-table and smoothed its snowy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> folds. "Sure, you're a trifle
+small for me big table, so I'll be putting you in the middle, and
+piecing you out at the two ends with me red and white Sunday
+table-cloths that ain't seen the daylight since we came to this sorry
+hole of a place, for it's not oilcloth that the M'Cartys shall be
+eating their dinner on this day."</p>
+
+<p>The linen cloth being spread in the centre of the table and
+supplemented at either end with a "red Sunday table-cloth" of more
+prosperous days, Mrs. M'Carty took from the top shelf in the cupboard
+her "set of flowered dishes"&mdash;another early marital gift. Though cheap
+in quality, and the plates, cups, etc., in half-dozens instead of
+dozens, these dishes had been Mrs. M'Carty's special pride ever since
+Michael had proudly bestowed them upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Biddy, me darlint," he had said. "I've brought you as grand a
+lot of dishes as ever I saw, and do you mind them posies<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> they have?
+They're like the roses growing forninst Father Kelly's wall, where I
+used to meet you when you were Biddy Rafferty."</p>
+
+<p>"Go along wid yer foolishness, Michael M'Carty," was Bridget's reply,
+but she had cherished the gift above all her other possessions, and
+like the table-cloth, the dishes were used but seldom.</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget M'Carty!" cried Granny, when she saw Bridget setting out the
+dishes, "are ye usin' them dishes me poor b'y bought with his hard
+earnin's? I'd think ye'd more respect for Michael than to set out them
+fine plates to be broken by them careless haythins."</p>
+
+<p>But Bridget assured Granny she would keep watch over the precious
+ware, and went on with her preparations as zealously as though she
+were preparing a banquet for noble folk. She had a small package of
+tea which had been given her by one of the conductors for whom she
+washed. He was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> an Irish boy lately come from the old country, and
+Mrs. M'Carty's sympathy for his homesickness had won from him this
+Christmas remembrance. The tea was a most welcome gift, for her
+finances had not permitted her to buy this beverage for many days. She
+had not mentioned it, for she wished to have as many surprises as
+possible, for, thought she, "Surprises is about all they'll be
+getting."</p>
+
+<p>Granny had followed her daughter-in-law's movements with a lofty,
+scornful look, but when she saw her take down the old brown teapot and
+give it a washing, she could not refrain from a question.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it tay ye're afther havin'?" she asked, almost forgetting herself
+at the thought and speaking in an amiable tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Granny, but I was intending it for a surprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Wan time is as good as another for a surprise," said Granny. "If it's
+a good one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> it gives a body somethin' pleasant to be thinkin' about,
+an' if it's a bad one, then the sooner ye're told the sooner ye do be
+gettin' over it."</p>
+
+<p>The animated look in Granny's eyes showed that, in her opinion, this
+surprise was a good one, and Grandad Rafferty opened his eyes in
+astonishment when he heard her crooning a bit of the "Low-backed Car."</p>
+
+<p>"It's the peppermint did it," said he to himself, "an' may the saints
+kape it lastin' till bedtime."</p>
+
+<p>By noon the banqueting-hall of the M'Cartys presented a most festal
+appearance. The flowered dishes were displayed to the best advantage,
+and the red cotton table-cloths served the purpose of a color scheme.
+The baked apples adorned the centre of the table, flanked at either
+side by plates of bread. The oven door stood ajar, disclosing two
+dishes of steaming potatoes waiting to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> be transferred to the table,
+and later to the plates and stomachs of the juvenile M'Cartys.</p>
+
+<p>When the twelve o'clock bells began to ring, Bridget poured the water
+over the tea and set the teapot over the fire, where the beverage
+immediately began boiling with a vigor that would have appalled an
+epicurean taste. Granny M'Carty was moved up to the centre of the
+table on one side, and Grandad Rafferty was installed opposite. Little
+Ellen, in the charge of her grandfather, immediately pre&euml;mpted a
+spoon, and in her enjoyment of the new plaything brought it down with
+a smart rap on one of the plates.</p>
+
+<p>"I told yez ye'd be afther havin' ev'ry last one of them dishes
+broke," scolded Granny. "Ye're that extravagant with yer things,
+Bridget M'Carty, it's no wonder ye went an' lost yer husband. An'
+where's them childers that was to be comin' home at twilve? Sure they
+never do as they're bid unless the devil's afther them, an' if<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+they're not here soon the tay will be sphoiled entirely," and she
+sniffed the air anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>At this critical moment the door, true to its habit, sprung open, and
+the eight laughing, panting, ruddy M'Carty heirs and heiresses filled
+the little room to overflowing. Their wraps were thrown aside and they
+were about to make a grand rush for the table when Mrs. M'Carty
+interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Never in me life have I see worse manners since me eyes had the
+misfortune to rest on them Dooleys down the tow-path. You're patterns
+in manners when you're asleep, but where do you keep your decency
+daytimes? Go to the shed and show yourselves to the water and soap,
+and don't be keeping me dinner waiting long, either."</p>
+
+<p>Bang, thump, splash, grunt, gurgle, constituted the sign audible of
+the little M'Cartys' cleansing. The hands and faces were polished, the
+comb hastily passed round, and in they trooped, this time more
+quietly, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> if they had scrubbed off some of their boisterous
+spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Norah had found a bit of holly, with which she adorned the dish of
+baked apples, while Terence, with much effort, pulled from his pocket
+a package wrapped in pink paper and laid it with an important air on
+Granny's plate.</p>
+
+<p>"Merry Christmas, with a present for you, Granny," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that you've been buying?" said Mrs. M'Carty, "and you with no
+money to buy nothing with."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't buy it," said Terence.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not have anythin' to do with stholen stuff, ye wicked craytur,"
+exclaimed Granny, pushing the offending package away from her.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't steal it, neither," said Terence, proudly. "I leave such
+works for them Dooleys," and he held his head aloft and went over by
+his mother.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I believe you, Terence, my boy," said Mrs. M'Carty. "But wherever did
+you get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"He axed for it," interposed Katy. "We were that cold, and when we
+came to a drug-store, Terence, says he, 'Let's slip in and get warm
+and smell all them perfoomery and things.' And the drug-store man
+says, 'What does we be wanting,' and Terence says, 'We just came in to
+get warm, but we'd buy something if we had the money.' 'What would you
+buy?' said the man, and Terence says, 'Perfoomery for my mother, and
+stuff to cure Granny's roometiz.' 'Is that all ye want?' says the man;
+'then get your fingers warm and take these to your mother and Granny,
+with a merry Christmas.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And here's your perfoomery," cried Terence, handing a smaller pink
+package to his mother, who exclaimed over it with delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, it's better than flowers, and far<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> more lasting," she said,
+"and it's glad I am you brought it."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't read this writin' at all, at all. The sphellin' is too small
+for me eyes," said Granny, once more becoming the centre of interest.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. M'Carty took the bottle and read aloud the directions.</p>
+
+<p>"And you're to take a teaspoonful after each meal," she concluded.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" snorted Granny. "An' does that drug-store man lay out to
+furnish me with the meals? I'd like to be told that now. Me that
+hasn't had a decint bit since ye let me poor Michael go off and get
+drownded in the cold wather."</p>
+
+<p>The clatter attendant on the seating of the children at the table
+prevented the latter part of Granny's speech from being heard. The
+smaller M'Cartys were placed either side of Grandad, the older ones
+being seated by Granny. The potatoes were transferred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> to the board,
+and Mrs. M'Carty, taking the little Ellen, sat down at the nominal
+foot of the table, opposite the empty place set in memory of her
+husband. For awhile naught was spoken save only the few occasional
+words necessary in asking for more food. Bridget sipped a little tea,
+but the sight of the vacant chair quite destroyed her appetite. She
+looked thin and care-worn, and very unlike the brave wife who with
+cheery words had sped her husband on his unlucky voyage.</p>
+
+<p>When the children's appetites were somewhat appeased, their tongues
+began to fly as they recounted the morning adventures,&mdash;the sights,
+the sounds, and all the little incidents which had gone to make up a
+happy morning.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Bridget rapped on the table for silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Whist again every last one of you while I make a request. Terence, me
+lad, slip over<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> to the wood-box and bring whatever you find there.
+It's for your Grandad."</p>
+
+<p>Terence quickly obeyed, while the others looked on in eager
+expectance. He returned with a round package wrapped in tissue and
+lace-trimmed paper and set it before Grandad, who undid it with
+surprising alacrity.</p>
+
+<p>"May the saints presarve us!" he exclaimed. "If it isn't as fine a
+puddin' as my old eyes ever see in me life."</p>
+
+<p>"Me, me!" cried little Patsy, "me wants a puddin'."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, me little Patsy," said Grandad, "ye shall have a bite as soon as
+my knife can cut it. There now, sit down, all of yez, till I have a
+chance at it,"&mdash;for the children were crowding about the old man to
+get a glimpse of the beautiful pudding. But before his knife had so
+much as touched it, Bridget interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold a bit," she said. "Katy, darling,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> run to the shed and look
+under the wash-tub and bring the contents to Granny."</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="wrap" src="images/i151.jpg" width="200" height="438" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Katy fairly flew to the shed and returned bearing aloft a package
+which in size, shape, and wrappings was identical with that which had
+just been set before Grandad. Granny opened it, displaying the mate to
+Grandad's pudding.</p>
+
+<p>"Whee, whee!" cried little Patsy. "Me wants it! Me wants it!"</p>
+
+<p>But Bridget was ready with a third order.</p>
+
+<p>"Norah, my jewel, you'll likely find something to your credit forninst
+the dishpan."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Norah lifted the dishpan and in a trice pudding number three was
+standing beside its predecessors.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet yer, kids," said Terence, the ready spokesman, "there's a
+pudding for every last one of us. Let's get busy and hunt. Sure, I see
+something under the stove."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. M'Carty let them hunt. They preferred this, and the fun ran high
+as one pudding after another was discovered. The house, though so
+small, held more hiding-places than one would have supposed, and it
+was some time before the last pudding consented to be found. Mrs.
+M'Carty allowed each one to cut his pudding and eat a generous
+portion. To more fastidious palates, cold plum pudding without sauce
+might have seemed a doubtful luxury, but to the little M'Cartys, who
+never before had tasted the dainty, the plum puddings were a veritable
+"feast of Lucullus." Baby Ellen was given<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> a crumb or two, and she
+goo-ed, and gurgled, and smiled on them all as if she thought herself
+the cause of all this festivity.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i153.jpg" width="400" height="334" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;MRS. M&#39;CARTY LET THEM HUNT&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"Praise the blessid saints," said Grandad,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> "they didn't forget us
+this Christmas day, an' these are grand puddin's."</p>
+
+<div id="i154">
+<div id="i154a">&nbsp;</div>
+<div id="i154b">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<p>"Grand indade," replied Granny. "If Bridget M'Carty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> had said her
+prayers proper-like, it's other things besides puddin's she would have
+asked the saints for, but she's that foolish, she can't keep two words
+in her head to once. When she thinks puddin's, she just thinks
+puddin's, an' not aven the sauce, bedad."</p>
+
+<p>"Annyhow, Granny, ye must say it was fine puddin's she did be
+thinkin'."</p>
+
+<p>"Av course they're fine, but there's nothin' but puddin's, an' I have
+to ate them or be stharvin', I expect," and Granny helped herself to
+the third piece and passed her cup to Bridget to be filled the fourth
+time.</p>
+
+<p>While the puddings were being eaten Mrs. M'Carty told the tale of the
+mysterious presents. So dramatic was her exposition of the twelve
+knocks that had been the precursors of the twelve puddings that when,
+as she finished, there came a loud and emphatic knock at the door,
+Grandad Rafferty, his mind on Bridget's story, ejaculated:</p>
+
+<p>"Another puddin'!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter clearboth">
+<img src="images/i156.jpg" width="400" height="636" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+</div><!--i154-->
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;&#39;IT&#39;S MY MICHAEL,&mdash;MY HEART OF THE WORLD&#39;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>"Annuzzer puddin'!" lisped little Patsy.</p>
+
+<p>"May the saints forgit to sind us another puddin'!" said Granny
+M'Carty.</p>
+
+<p>Before any one had thought to open the door, it opened from without,
+and there stood, looking in at the group, a tall, haggard, weary man.</p>
+
+<p>"Holy Virgin save us, it's Michael's ghost!" cried Granny, covering
+her face with her hands.</p>
+
+<p>For a full minute the inmates of the shanty and the man at the door
+stared at each other. Then Mrs. M'Carty heard the one word:</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget!"</p>
+
+<p>It was enough. Quite forgetting little Ellen, who tumbled
+unceremoniously to the floor, Mrs. M'Carty sprang from her chair.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no ghost! It's no ghost!" she cried, sobbing and laughing. "It's
+my Michael,&mdash;my heart of the world,&mdash;my Michael,&mdash;come back from the
+dead," and she threw herself into his arms.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Exclamations and explanations were now the order of the day. Mrs.
+M'Carty in her Christmas lavishness had used all of the tea, but she
+reheated the contents of the teapot and cut a slice of pudding for her
+husband, but Michael, established in his erstwhile empty place at the
+table, was too happy for either eating or drinking.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner lasted as long as did that of any of "swelldom's four
+hundred," for one cannot relate in a few moments the happenings of
+months, nor can so wonderful a gift as that of Katrina Baumg&auml;rtner be
+passed over with a few words.</p>
+
+<p>When the tale of the puddings was ended Michael, with a merry twinkle
+in his eye, said to Norah:</p>
+
+<p>"Norah, my jewel, be lookin' outside the door there, and see what you
+can be after findin'."</p>
+
+<p>Eight little M'Cartys ran to the door. A scramble, a noisy return, and
+down<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> on the table descended the thirteenth pudding.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At dusk Granny M'Carty and Grandad Rafferty sat in their accustomed
+places by the fire. Baby Ellen was fast asleep in Grandad's arms. The
+children were out for a run in the fresh air, and Bridget and Michael
+were enjoying a few moments of happy converse together in the lean-to.</p>
+
+<p>Grandad rocked gently to and fro, nodding and smiling to himself as if
+his thoughts were very pleasant company. The sight of his cheerful
+face, dimly seen by the small lamp, was too much for Granny.</p>
+
+<p>"It's meself," she began, "as can sit here with never a soul to be
+shpakin' to me, an' ev'ry one of me bones and nerves achin' with the
+excitemint of this day; an' it's ye, Misther Rafferty, that can sit
+there grinnin' and noddin' like a crazy loon. It's them that has a
+fine consait of themselves that gets<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+along in this world, I mind. An'
+look at them puddin's,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Puddin's? Puddin's?" said Grandad, rousing from his reverie and
+looking about as if he expected to see a second installment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, puddin's!" mimicked Granny. "What's to be done with the leavin's
+of them thirteen puddin's, the unlucky things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. M'Carty, don't be callin' them puddin's unlucky. Sure, 'twas the
+thirteenth puddin' that let Michael be findin' his lost family. Think
+no more of them. Remember yer Michael that couldn't sthay lost, an'
+it's because ye was so lucky to be namin' him afther the good saint.
+Saint Michael an' the old dragon, ye mind,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"An' is it meself ye're afther callin' an old dragon?" almost screamed
+Granny.</p>
+
+<p>"Indade and indade, Mrs. M'Carty," began Grandad, regretting his
+unfortunate allusion to the dragon, and anxious to avert the impending
+tirade, "I'm not callin' ye
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+an old dragon, at all, at all. It's&mdash;it's
+yer roometiz I mane. Yes, sure, it's that is the old dragon, an'
+Michael will fight it for yez, an' I know he'll conquer it entirely,
+just as sure as I know there was luck in them thirteen puddin's. An'
+Granny," he went on, growing still more Utopian in his predictions,
+"ye'll soon be walkin' 'round gay as a cricket, with never an ache or
+a pain to be throublin' yez."</p>
+
+<p>"Are ye sure of all that, Misther Rafferty?" asked Granny eagerly.
+Grandad had conjured up too blissful a vision for even her gloomy
+spirits to withstand.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure? Av course I'm sure!" answered Grandad promptly, and pounded his
+chair with emphasis. "It's as good as done this minit, an' there's
+such good times comin' for all of us, it's not aven the quane we'll be
+envyin'."</p>
+
+<p>Granny sat for a few moments in silence. Then she turned to Grandad.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"An' did ye mind, Misther Rafferty," she said with a little
+brightness, "did ye mind, I say, that Michael had the gold ring on his
+finger?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did that," answered Grandad. "Me two eyes took sight of it as soon
+as ever he sthirred his hand, an' it was shinin' as bright as ever it
+was before he went an' got drownded. An' that's another sign of good
+times comin' for us. An' listen, Mrs. M'Carty, it's for yer Michael
+bein' ev'ry bit as good as gold himself, that them saints went to all
+the throuble of undrownding him an' bringin' him back to us that nades
+him."</p>
+
+<p>And for once Granny smilingly agreed.</p>
+
+<p class="h3">THE END.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="trnote">
+<p class="h4">Transcriber's Notes:</p>
+<p>Archaic syntax, dialect, and inconsistent spelling retained.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Misfit Christmas Puddings, by Club Consolation
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+Project Gutenberg's The Misfit Christmas Puddings, by Club Consolation
+
+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: The Misfit Christmas Puddings
+
+Author: Club Consolation
+
+Illustrator: Wallace Goldsmith
+
+Release Date: May 21, 2012 [EBook #39753]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David T. Jones, Matthew Wheaton, Mardi
+Desjardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada
+Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.netCanada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS
+
+    [Illustration: "ENJOYING HER FATHER'S PARTING FONDLING."]
+
+
+
+
+    _THE_ MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS
+
+    BY
+
+    THE CONSOLATION CLUB
+
+
+    _Illustrated by Wallace Goldsmith_
+
+    JOHN W. LUCE & COMPANY PUBLISHERS
+
+    BOSTON & LONDON
+    1906
+
+
+    _Copyright, 1906_
+    By JOHN W. LUCE & COMPANY
+    _Entered at Stationers' Hall_
+
+
+    Colonial Press
+    _C. H. Simonds & Co._
+    _Boston, U. S. A._
+
+
+
+
+_THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS_
+
+
+_TIME_
+    The day before Christmas and Christmas day.
+
+_PLACES_
+    BAKER BAUMGAeRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT. Large and flourishing.
+    THE M'CARTY ABODE. Small and dilapidated.
+
+_CHARACTERS_
+    HERR BAUMGAeRTNER, with a mercenary heart and an eye to the main
+      chance.
+    KATRINA BAUMGAeRTNER, with a tender heart and an eye on her
+      lover.
+    HERR BAUMGAeRTNER'S EMPLOYEES, with commercial hearts and eyes
+      single to the approval of KATRINA BAUMGAeRTNER.
+    WIDOW M'CARTY, with a sad heart and many cares.
+          { Granny M'Carty,--much care; little comfort.
+    HER   { Grandad Rafferty,--much comfort; little
+    CARES { care.
+          { Nine Little M'Cartys,--both cares and comforts.
+    MICHAEL M'CARTY,--the loved and lamented.
+
+
+
+
+_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+
+    "ENJOYING HER FATHER'S PARTING FONDLING"
+
+    "THE GREAT DELIGHT OF ALL THE CHILDREN"
+
+    "'FOR MY THIRTEEN BEST CUSTOMERS'"
+
+    "SHE APPLIED HERSELF TO THE SHIRTS WITH VIGOR"
+
+    "IMPRINTED ON THEM A FEW REMINDERS OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE"
+
+    "GRANDAD WAS SPEECHLESS"
+
+    "'AN' ARE YE INSINOOATIN', MISTHER RAFFERTY?'"
+
+    "AS KATRINA PASSED THROUGH THE STORE"
+
+    "'I MAY GO, MAY I NOT?'"
+
+    "'IT'S SAMPLES I HAVE . . .' SAID TERENCE, PROUDLY DISPLAYING
+    THE CONTENTS OF HIS BUNDLE"
+
+    "TO ADMIRE THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS"
+
+    "AND AS SHE SAT THERE MEMORY CAME AND STOOD BY HER"
+
+    "KATRINA . . . WENT TO WORK"
+
+    "HE PICKED UP THE CARD AND READ"
+
+    "WAS ON HIS WAY TO THE CITY HOSPITAL"
+
+    "'A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KATRINA BAUMGAeRTNER!'"
+
+    "SHE PLACED BOTH PUDDINGS IN HER APRON"
+
+    "'GOTT IN HIMMEL! DONNER UND BLITZEN!'"
+
+    "'TWELVE CAKES TO THE WIDOW M'CARTY!'"
+
+    "BRIDGET NEXT ATTACKED HER FATHER"
+
+    "'IT'S MORE ROOMETIZ FOR ME, SO IT IS'"
+
+    "'VEN I SMOKES DAT PIPE DEN I FORGET DOSE PLUM PUDDINGS'"
+
+    "HIS GLANCE FELL UPON SOMETHING WHITE THAT LAY ON THE COUNTER"
+
+    "'A STICK OF CANDY APIECE'"
+
+    "KATY . . . RETURNED BEARING ALOFT A PACKAGE"
+
+    "MRS. M'CARTY LET THEM HUNT"
+
+    "THE HOUSE . . . HELD MORE HIDING-PLACES THAN ONE WOULD HAVE
+    SUPPOSED"
+
+    "'IT'S MY MICHAEL,--MY HEART OF THE WORLD'"
+
+
+
+
+_THE MISFIT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS_
+
+
+
+
+_First Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGAeRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY
+BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+'Twas the day before Christmas, yet there was no need to tell that to
+any one in Buffalo, for everywhere in the city was the stir and
+excitement that precedes a great holiday. Every one seemed to be alert
+and in a hurry. The very air was full of Christmas scents. One felt
+that something unusual was going on, and nowhere was this more
+apparent than in Baker Baumgaertner's large establishment.
+
+Among the German residents of this prosperous lake port this was the
+most popular bakery in the town, and Herr Baumgaertner was caterer and
+confectioner as well as baker. Consequently he had a very large trade,
+and the twelve wagons that were despatched daily from the Baumgaertner
+bakery went to all parts of the city. Not only was he popular among
+the German residents, but whoever had once tasted the baker's crisp
+rolls and genuine German rye bread--not to mention the Lebkuchen and
+Pfeffernuesse at Christmastime--never neglected an opportunity to order
+more. Even the delicious Marzipan Brod--a sweetmeat made of almonds,
+sugar, and rose-water--was not omitted from his Christmas confections.
+Certainly, Herr Baumgaertner's establishment was almost too tempting
+for one who possessed but a slender pocketbook at Christmas-time.
+
+The windows, washed and polished until they fairly shone, were now
+hung with wreaths of holly, and festoons of evergreens were draped
+across both doors and windows in token of the holiday season. Two
+large firtrees in boxes stood on each side of the entrance.
+
+Herr Baumgaertner's Christmas windows were the great delight of all the
+children in the neighborhood, for in one stood a tall Christmas tree
+from whose branches dangled the most wonderful candies and
+cakes,--boys and girls, kings and queens, cows, dogs, funny fat pigs,
+violins, real Swiss houses,--in fact all kinds of toys. These were
+made either of chocolate, sugar, or gingerbread. This marvellous tree
+was also adorned with a huge silver star at the top, while glittering
+gold and silver paper chains were suspended from its branches. These,
+and the many colored candles, made it a bewildering sight. Truly, it
+was a real fairy Christmas tree.
+
+[Illustration: "THE GREAT DELIGHT OF ALL THE CHILDREN"]
+
+Perhaps no one but Herr Baumgaertner himself knew that this tree was in
+memory of a little boy who long years before had spent a few short
+Christmas days with him, for Herr Baumgaertner's only son had died when
+three years old. The baker was not a man who was supposed to have much
+sentiment, but he would as soon omit the baking of the Christmas cakes
+as omit the Christmas tree in remembrance of little Fritz. It
+certainly was a joy and delight to all the children round about, and
+so great was its fame that many a child begged "to go just once"--if
+he lived a long way off--and see the Baumgaertner's wonderful Christmas
+tree.
+
+Though it was yet early in the morning the wagons were already
+returning from the delivery of the breakfast rolls and bread. The air
+of the store was odorous with appetizing scents, attesting the baker's
+concocting skill. The shelves were filled with fragrant fresh bread,
+and there was an extra supply of cakes and buns.
+
+Under the glass cases were arranged the most tempting holiday cakes.
+Particularly attractive was the Lebkuchen,--a highly spiced
+gingerbread,--which was artistically made into different shapes, some
+square, others large and round, while again others were in the form of
+hearts with an ornament of sugar-work around the outside. On many were
+the words, "Merry Christmas," in tiny red and white candies. The
+animals made of gingerbread were as numerous as those that went into
+the Ark. These were done over with a thin white icing, and not a child
+that entered the bakery could be induced to leave without at least one
+animal which he selected as his fancy prompted him, while many almost
+wept because they could not buy all. But perhaps for "grown-ups" the
+favorite cakes were the hard little Pfeffernuesse.
+
+Large wreaths of pine were suspended from the ceiling, and a feeling
+of homesickness came over many a German customer at the smell of the
+favorite Lebkuchen and the words, "Froehliche Weihnachten,"--for Baker
+Baumgaertner was a shrewd man and wished his customers a merry
+Christmas in German as well as in English,--and they thought of the
+joyful times in the Fatherland when the Christ-child had visited the
+home and had brought them just such simple gifts as these.
+
+Baker Baumgaertner was a big, burly man with a loud, gruff voice. He
+expected prompt obedience from all his employees,--apprentice boys,
+bakers, and clerks alike,--and this he usually obtained. He was very
+methodical, attending to every detail of his large business and
+knowing just what to require from every one under him.
+
+"Be fair and honest" was his motto; yet he delighted in "making
+moneys,"--as he expressed it,--but honestly.
+
+His interests in life seemed to be divided between his growing
+business and his pretty daughter, Katrina. She was the idol of his eye
+and he could refuse her nothing, though counted close in business
+matters.
+
+It was eight o'clock in the morning and trade was beginning briskly.
+The telephone orders kept the bell jingling. The clerks and bakers
+were prepared for a busy day, and had received from Herr Baumgaertner
+their special instructions in regard to the catering and delivering.
+Already early customers were beginning to come in.
+
+Herr Baumgaertner stood near a table which was in the rear of the
+store. On this table were displayed thirteen Christmas puddings, set
+apart in royal aloofness. These the baker intended as presents to
+some of his best customers.
+
+"Ach, dose puddings!" he soliloquized. "Goot, rich, schoen! But I get
+my moneys back again." In other words, he anticipated a large return
+from a small investment.
+
+Baker Baumgaertner knew how to do the handsome thing upon occasion, and
+was possessed of a generosity which, like Bob Acres' courage, "came
+and went." Just now it was at full tide. Desirous of presenting his
+gifts in the best possible manner, he went to his desk, and taking out
+thirteen gilt-edged cards, he wrote on each: "With the Christmas
+Greetings of Herr Wilhelm Baumgaertner." He next took from its wrapping
+a quantity of pink and blue tissue paper with embroidered edges.
+
+At this moment Hans Kleinhardt, his head clerk, entered the store.
+
+"Hans, come you here once!" cried the baker. "Dot fine puddings vat
+you see dere are for my thirteen best customers. Vat you tink,
+Hans,"--showing him the tissue papers, "joost de ting to wrap dot
+puddings in, nicht wahr? Always in Hirschberg dey say to me, 'Ach,
+Herr Baumgaertner, Sie haben immer so schoenes Papier.'"
+
+[Illustration: "'FOR MY THIRTEEN BEST CUSTOMERS'"]
+
+"Ja, ja," assented Hans, "it is so fine already."
+
+So anxious was our Hans to ingratiate himself and make a good
+impression,--for Hans was ambitious,--that had Herr Baumgaertner wished
+them wrapped in circus posters Hans would have said: "Ja, ja, it is so
+fine already."
+
+"Dot pink, Hans, ist ausgezeichnet, dot will we haf, and moreover on
+each tie you a piece of dat Christmas holly mit de red berries. Hans,
+see. Here is dat list of mein thirteen best customers. Send you dem
+dose puddings. Each and efery pudding is joost quite alike. Here are
+dose cardts mit vich I send dem my Christmas Greetings. You see dot
+dose puddings get sent dis Christmas eve."
+
+Hans put the list and the thirteen cards into his pocket and promised
+to attend to the order faithfully.
+
+"A 'phone call for you, sir," said one of his clerks.
+
+Herr Baumgaertner went slowly to the telephone. Nothing ever made the
+good baker hurry, for haste was not in his make-up.
+
+"Hello, vat you vant?"
+
+A large order had not been delivered. That was an unpardonable offence
+in the Baumgaertner establishment. The baker was slow to be aroused,
+but when once his anger was awakened he was, indeed, a furious man.
+The wild, fierce Teuton in him got the upper hand.
+
+"Donner Wetter!" he cried. "Vat for dat big order not delivered, and
+vone of mein goot customers dat leaves me much moneys? You tink I hire
+you for noddings, eh? Joost to trow my moneys away on you?"
+
+He stormed and raged at the unlucky clerk through whose carelessness
+the mistake had occurred.
+
+"Himmel!" he yelled. "How come dat you forget? You are one Dummkopf! I
+haf not served in die German army for noddings, and ven I say 'You
+delifer dose tings on Monday' I mean on Monday, and not on Tuesday.
+You hear dat now?"
+
+The unhappy clerk acknowledged that he heard, and, fortunately for
+him, the entrance of a wealthy customer saved him from further wrath.
+The sincere admiration expressed by the customer for the Christmas
+decorations and the Christmas confections was appreciated by the
+baker, and the pleasant words, being supplemented by a large order,
+restored Herr Baumgaertner to his usual good humor. As he returned to
+his office he could not refrain from pausing a moment beside the table
+which held the Christmas puddings.
+
+"Ach, dose puddings!" he commented, viewing them with professional
+pride, "Dey are joost like von picture!"
+
+
+
+
+_Second Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE MORNING OF THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+Down on the tow-path was a little, weather-beaten shanty that
+presented a far different setting for the enactments of the coming
+holiday.
+
+Here, for six sad months, the Widow M'Carty had tried to keep the wolf
+from the door, but work as she might, her efforts would hardly have
+frightened an able-bodied weasel.
+
+It was now some eight months since Michael M'Carty, broad-shouldered,
+courageous, and loving, had rushed home to his snug cottage one
+noon-time with the news that he had shipped as assistant engineer on
+the big, new freighter, the _Go-Between_, which was to leave port that
+very night.
+
+Bridget, his wife, had smiled bravely at him through tears that the
+prospect of separation called to her eyes, but went thriftily to work
+to get his clothes in readiness; "Fer," said she, "there'll be no
+tellin' whin they'll feel a needle again."
+
+Michael M'Carty had followed the lakes before, and now with better
+wages than ever it was no time for "complainin'." Indeed, there never
+had been any time for "complainin'" in Bridget's cheery, helpful life.
+Even the maternal cares which had multiplied so rapidly had not robbed
+her of her girlish buoyancy, and the ninth little M'Carty, at that
+moment enjoying her father's parting fondling, had been just as
+welcome as the first, now a proud member of the highest "Grammar
+Grade," though barely thirteen.
+
+Michael M'Carty was ambitious for his children, and even dreamed of
+sending his cleverest offspring to the New High School which he passed
+each morning on his way to work. That presumptuous plan never had been
+whispered to any one save his "darlin' Biddy," and they dreaded the
+day when it should be made known to Granny M'Carty, whose presence at
+the family hearthstone supplied all the discipline that could possibly
+be needed in any fairly moral household. Granny M'Carty's rule was
+like unto that of the Chinese mother-in-law, and if anything ever had
+pleased her since her son brought her to his hospitable home, she had
+betrayed no suspicion of the feeling.
+
+On the occasion described Granny swayed to and fro in her chair,--the
+most comfortable that the house afforded,--and wailed:
+
+"Ochone, sorra the day! The banshee was singin' onunder the windy last
+night, an' ye'll be drownded, sure; or failin' or that ye won't know
+onny more than to go ashore at Chicagy an' there ye'll be murthered to
+death with one of them hand-bags, worra, worra!"
+
+If the demon of pessimism lurked by the M'Carty fireside in the person
+of Granny M'Carty, that malign influence was offset by the angel of
+optimism who brooded over the family circle under the name of Grandad
+Rafferty.
+
+Grandad, whose society was the only dowry that Bridget Rafferty had
+brought to her husband, now interposed his sweet, quavering tones.
+
+"Whist, Granny, don't be undoin' the b'y jist as he's leavin' Biddy
+an' the childer. The blessid Virgin will fetch him back all right.
+Good luck to ye, lad. Ye're a fine son to me, an' I'll mind Biddy an'
+the chicks an' look after them while ye are away."
+
+Grandad was right. He certainly would "mind" the children, for their
+lightest word was law to him. He would "look after" them, and fondly,
+too, but his feeble limbs never could follow the antics of the merry
+little brood.
+
+With a varied cargo of good wishes and gloomy forebodings, and with
+Bridget's gold ring on his finger "for luck," Michael steamed
+away,--sorrowful at leaving his dear ones, but glad that fortune
+favored his honest efforts for their comfortable support.
+
+Never had such a storm swept the lakes in spring-time as buffeted the
+poor _Go-Between_, yet untried by wind and wave. Unskilful loading
+interfered with a perfect ballast, and unseamanlike management left
+her at the mercy of the tempest.
+
+              "WENT DOWN WITH ALL ON BOARD!"
+
+was the head-line that greeted faithful Bridget M'Carty on the morning
+of that dreadful day a week after Michael had left her, and before she
+could snatch a paper her heart told her the name of the boat.
+
+Though a tireless worker, Bridget had always depended upon Michael for
+the management of their small affairs, and at first she was bewildered
+by the responsibility thrust upon her. It took time to recover from
+the shock of the sad news and to make plans and find work that would
+put bread into twelve hungry mouths. In that time the little store of
+savings was expended, for in addition to all the other troubles,
+Granny M'Carty brooded herself ill, and the doctor's bill had to be
+paid.
+
+It was soon apparent that the snug little home in which Michael had
+left his family must be abandoned for humbler quarters. Inexperienced
+in house-hunting and feeling restricted to the lowest possible rent,
+Mrs. M'Carty fell a prey to an unprincipled landlord, who induced her
+to take her flock to a ramshackle abode on the tow-path which he
+described as "quite habitable."
+
+The place had not seemed so objectionable while warm weather lasted.
+The passing canal-boats with their patient motive power afforded
+unfailing interest to the little M'Cartys by day, and the swish of the
+displaced waters lulled them to sleep at night.
+
+Viewed objectively, the place perhaps was not without attractions. "A
+real live painter" had once pitched his easel near at hand, causing a
+little M'Carty to run home breathless with the information that he had
+called their house "picturesque."
+
+When Grandad Rafferty heard this compliment to their domicile, he
+said,--"Picteresk is it? Well, that is a comfort!" But Granny M'Carty
+refused to be deceived by empty words; "Picteresk, indade! Let them
+live on that who can!"
+
+Half-covered with snow in the freezing winter weather, the picturesque
+element of the M'Carty home was lost in desolation, and on this
+December day even stout-hearted Bridget was obliged to let her
+feelings partake of the prevailing atmosphere.
+
+Salt tears trickled down the poor woman's cheeks and fell into the tub
+where she was "doin' out" the wash of some street-car conductors not
+fortunate enough to have womenfolk of their own.
+
+"Indeed," said Bridget with doleful humor, "that's all the salt water
+these poor shirts will be getting to set their color, and oh, dear! I
+wish they were Michael's."
+
+She sank down on an upturned tub and gave way to her bitter grief as
+she seldom allowed herself to do.
+
+"Sure, it's the first Christmas since my name was M'Carty that the tub
+will be upside down. The childer couldn't always spare a stocking
+apiece for hanging up, but it was many a bit they found in the tub. My
+pie, Mike used to be calling it.
+
+"And now it's him that is dead, and we've not even a meal in the
+pantry--no, nor pantry neither, and what'll become of us now?"
+
+But Mrs. M'Carty soon realized that even the luxury of time to mourn
+was denied the poor, and she controlled herself resolutely with the
+words:
+
+"There, ain't ye ashamed of yourself, Biddy M'Carty? As if it were not
+bad enough to have the trouble in your heart without grieving about it
+aloud into the bargain. Supposing the children were all dead, and
+Grandad were blind, and--and Granny were took away, and yourself were
+in the insane crazy asylum. Then would be time to be wasting in
+weeping."
+
+So, leaving tears for the pastime of lunatics, Bridget bravely
+furbished up her philosophy and brought it into use.
+
+To make up for lost time she applied herself to the shirts with such
+vigor that the very fabric was in danger of disappearing with the
+spots of dirt which she attacked. These garments must be ready as soon
+as possible, for she needed the money to which their cleansing
+entitled her.
+
+She had just sent Katy and Norah out with her last piece of work. It
+was not lucrative, being the washing for the little lame seamstress
+who could not afford to pay much, but for whom Mrs. M'Carty, with the
+generosity of the warm-hearted Irish, continued to work.
+
+The family income was somewhat augmented by the willing efforts of
+Dennis and Terence, and they were now absent in the pursuit of their
+vocation, the sale of daily newspapers.
+
+Mary and Maggie, too young to be of assistance, were quietly dressing
+up Granny's stick in a bit of tattered shawl and playing that it was a
+witch, at any moment liable to pounce on Granny and carry her off, the
+wish, perhaps, being father to the thought. Unobserved, the little
+girls were making threatening gestures behind the old lady's chair,
+indicative of her impending fate. Meantime they cast fearful glances
+toward the owner of the stick, the danger of momentary discovery
+adding pleasurable excitement to their pastime.
+
+Baby Ellen was asleep in her favorite resting-place, Grandad's arms.
+The two younger boys were making themselves unpopular by toddling back
+and forth between the living-room and the lean-to, from which latter
+place came the dull rhythm of Mrs. M'Carty's scrub, scrub, scrub on
+the wash-board.
+
+An outbreak from Granny heralded the interruption of the witch drama,
+and brought Bridget to the spot. The children were dodging behind
+Grandad's chair, while Granny poured the vials of her wrath on their
+offending heads, at the same time indulging in her favorite custom of
+throwing at them the articles within her reach. Perhaps the one
+compensation in the paucity of the furnishings of the M'Carty home was
+the limitation on the vehicles of Granny's wrath.
+
+"Och, them spalpeens!" she shouted as her daughter-in-law entered,
+"bad 'cess to them, rampin' an' rampagin' 'round till me ears is jist
+burshtin'!"
+
+Mrs. M'Carty, feeling that some one ought to be punished, and not
+thinking it quite filial to belabor her mother-in-law, caught up two
+or three of her olive branches that were recklessly waving in the air,
+and imprinted on them a few gentle reminders of maternal solicitude.
+Howls rent the air, but these were largely for effect, for Bridget had
+a whole-souled way with her in administering punishment, which left no
+lasting resentment in the objects of her discipline.
+
+Always concerned lest the correction of her grandchildren be lacking
+in severity, Granny growled:
+
+"Sthop yer whillelewin' an' phillelewin'! Ye ought to have a strap, so
+ye had!"
+
+She felt a certain satisfaction in the crisis which she had
+precipitated, but it did not temper her speech, for as soon as the
+children were quiet she broke forth.
+
+"Begorra, perhaps it's a nice Christmas we'll be havin' with the
+winter here with its searchin' cold, an' nothin' but this shanty with
+its two rooms an' lean-to, an' half the furnitoor gone to pay rent,
+an' put food in the mouths of that greedy raft of childer. An' jist
+feel my roomatiz!" her voice growing more shrill with excitement, "an'
+not a whole pane in the windy, but it's many a pain I have in me
+bones. An' I nade linnyment this minit. An' look at him settin'
+there," pointing wrathfully at Grandad Rafferty, "an' not makin'
+anybody trouble!" and she paused as if to contemplate the pleasure
+that would be afforded her to see Grandad making somebody a great deal
+of trouble.
+
+"An' there's my poor Michael," she went on, "drownded an the wather
+an' wearin' that nice gold ring on his skellington."
+
+"Oh, don't," moaned poor Bridget, putting up her hand as if to ward
+off the blow of cruel words. But Granny, finding her ravings were
+making an impression, grew more fluent.
+
+"I don't doubt me there was the price of a bottle of linnyment in that
+ring, an' more, an' ye that extravagant to be makin' him wear it when
+ye knew he'd be drowned."
+
+Bridget and Grandad were at their wit's end, as many a time before,
+for words with which to soothe the old woman. Though he inwardly
+resented this abuse of his daughter, Grandad tried as usual to pour
+oil on the seething waters.
+
+"Annyhow, Granny, it's a mercy it was a real gold ring, an' not one of
+them chape things to be gettin' all rusty in the wather."
+
+Granny flew into a more violent rage.
+
+"An' are ye insinooatin', Misther Rafferty, that my son would ever
+wear an old brass ring? I'd have ye know that real gold is none too
+good for the poor, dear b'y to be drownded in. An' I wish ye'd stop
+yer talkin', ye blatherin' omadhaun," she snapped out, and then
+relapsed into sullen silence, setting her empty pipe upside down in
+her mouth, a veritable picture of despair.
+
+[Illustration: "GRANDAD WAS SPEECHLESS"]
+
+But Granny's silence, even, could make itself felt. Grandad was
+speechless. Dear old Grandad! The sun of his cheerfulness had suffered
+no eclipse from the clouds of adversity that enveloped the M'Carty
+family. His "Marnin', honey!" and "Avenin', shure!" sounded as
+pleasantly as ever. When he had bread he ate it thankfully, and when
+there was none he said that his "sthomick had a sort of full feelin'
+of itsilf."
+
+[Illustration: "'AN' ARE YE INSINOOATIN', MISTHER RAFFERTY'"]
+
+He was a constant comfort to his daughter, but the sweetness of his
+spirit was gall and wormwood to Granny. If there is one thing more
+exasperating than another to a caustic temperament, it is the constant
+companionship of a bland and optimistic disposition. In Granny's case
+the necessity of maintaining both sides of a quarrel kept her tongue
+sharpened to a piercing point.
+
+After a moment's quiet, Mrs. M'Carty slipped the pipe out of Granny's
+mouth and returned it to her filled. It was accepted, though
+thanklessly. With a smile and an understanding nod to her father,
+Bridget returned to her tubs.
+
+She finished her washing and put things to rights. Then she drew from
+a box where she kept a few things from Granny's prying eyes, her sorry
+Christmas presents,--some pictures cut from an illustrated paper and
+pasted on squares of cardboard.
+
+"The poor darlings," she said. "I can't even be buying them trifling
+presents. I must be saving every penny, for the first of the month is
+coming, and the agent, bad 'cess to him, will be here to lift the
+rent. An' these poor picters is all I've got for Christmas for the
+biggest ones, and nothing at all for the next size, and the same for
+the middlest size and the littlest ones, and never a thing for the
+baby. I most wish I'd let little Patsy keep the ball he stole from the
+Wilkeson boy."
+
+The strain of the recent encounter had told on Mrs. M'Carty's usually
+steady nerves, and her inability to contribute to her children's
+holiday enjoyment filled her with sudden resentment.
+
+"I suppose them Barneys up on Fifth Street will every one of them be
+strutting and ballyragging 'round with gewgaws, and fixings, and such
+like things. Faith, they'll need them to be making themselves look
+decent, so they will. Truth, every single one of them Barneys has more
+freckles than I could find on my whole nine together, if I searched
+with a candle. And why can't they be having what they're after
+wanting! Anybody can buy that has money."
+
+Bridget laid the pictures back in the box.
+
+"You can stay there," she said, closing the cover. "It will never do
+to be giving something to one and nothing to the rest of them. Bedad,
+I'd like to put my eye on a dollar once. It's always to be watching a
+cent that makes a body short-sighted."
+
+
+
+
+_Third Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGAeRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT TEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY
+BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+
+It was Herr Baumgaertner's habit to open his mouth almost as prudently
+as his purse, but when at ten o'clock one of his clerks returned
+without the amount of the bill he had been sent out to collect, the
+baker lost patience.
+
+"You cannot get dat moneys! Haf you said how I must pay my insurance,
+and all der clerks in dis big store, and all der extras for Christmas?
+How will I pay for dem if my moneys comes not back again? Haf you said
+how I must haf it?"
+
+The clerk explained that he had told Mr. Weiss, the debtor, all this
+and that he had said he would pay, without fail, the first of the next
+month.
+
+"Next mont'!" cried the indignant baker. "He haf told me dat same
+t'ing six times already! First he write he will send it next mont';
+den he say, 'Soon as my interest is due I will pay;' next times, 'My
+wife she is sick and you must wait yet a little while.' Go tell him I
+vill haf dat moneys dis day!"
+
+The clerk departed as he was bidden. The baker shook his head angrily.
+
+"Ach, dose peoples! I haf no patience mit dem. In Germany Fritz Weiss
+was dat honest and goot. It is all along of his wife. She must haf one
+fine house, and dere girls such clot'es,--like one Baronin,--vich is
+bad for dem, and for my Katrina too, ven she know of it. Bewahre, dat
+my Katrina should so dress. Yet I haf die means and Fritz he haf not.
+So foolish a wife he haf. Gott sei Dank! My blessed wife war nicht so.
+She had always so much goot sense, and dose girls are not like my
+Katrina. Nein, I haf not seen one Maedchen like mein Katrina, immer
+sehr schoen und gut."
+
+At this moment Herr Baumgaertner looked out of his office and saw his
+Katrina entering the store.
+
+"Ach, dere is mein Katrina. She makes me always glad ven I see her,"
+he mused, watching her with loving eyes as she came through the store.
+
+Katrina was a picture to delight other eyes than those of her father.
+A mass of wavy, flaxen hair framed a face of rare tints of pink and
+pearl. Beautiful blue eyes she had, eyes that could be trustful or
+merry under their long lashes, while the sweet, smiling mouth with its
+full-arched upper lip was not the least of Katrina's charms. When one
+looked at her it was like beholding the vision of some bewitching,
+Saxon princess.
+
+Herr Baumgaertner was not burdened with a large family, for he had only
+this one daughter, so it would seem that Katrina Baumgaertner might
+have advantages denied many of her companions. She had rather unusual
+advantages, for while her girl friends were learning to paint
+uncertain flowers, and to entertain with equally dubious musical
+accomplishments, Katrina's father had insisted that his daughter must
+learn the art of the housewife.
+
+As Katrina passed through the store she had a word or a nod of
+recognition for each busy clerk, and for the customers whom she knew.
+She stopped to leave a small package with Max Schaub for his little
+lame August; and when George Reigel's sick Freda opened her box on
+Christmas morning she was to find a doll that Miss Katrina's artful
+fingers had dressed.
+
+When Katrina's mother was alive she had taught her child, through
+years of precept and example, an uncommon interpretation of the
+holiday giving,--that the family and friends were not to be thought of
+until many a Christmas surprise had been planned for the needy and
+unexpectant. The baker himself came in for a share of the waves of
+gratitude that swept toward his home at each holiday season, though
+this tide of good feeling was largely due to his thoughtful daughter.
+
+[Illustration: "AS KATRINA PASSED THROUGH THE STORE"]
+
+Katrina felt the blessedness of giving, but just now she had other
+joys, as well, to keep her heart aglow. She was at the age when most
+girls have considerable liberty in their personal affairs, but this
+was not the case with Katrina.
+
+Herr Baumgaertner settled the questions of his household with the same
+attention and decision that he gave to his business. Consequently his
+daughter was a frequent visitor at her father's store, where she came
+to consult him on the trivial as well as upon the most important
+questions pertaining to their domestic concerns.
+
+When she presented herself before Herr Baumgaertner's desk on this
+morning before Christmas, he greeted her with his usual question on
+such occasions:
+
+"Was willst du, Katrinchen?"
+
+"Something nice this time, Vater. The big snow-storm has come just in
+time for Christmas, you know, and I am invited to a sleigh-ride
+party to-night. I may go, may I not?"
+
+[Illustration: "'I MAY GO, MAY I NOT?'"]
+
+"A sleigh-ride den?" and he smiled and said, "Only once is one
+young!--But who asked you to go on dat sleigh-ride?"
+
+"Johann Hermann asked me this morning," replied Katrina, blushing a
+little, "but I told him I must first ask you."
+
+"Ach, so! Vat for a man is der Johann dat of a morning he comes to ask
+you, Tochterchen? Vat does he?"
+
+"He keeps books, Father, and he stopped on his way to his work. He
+came just after you had gone this morning, and he will come at noon to
+see if I may go."
+
+"Is he son of dat Herr Frederick Hermann dat knows not so much to
+stick to one job steady?"
+
+"Oh, no, Father, he is not like that," protested Katrina, earnestly.
+"He told me this morning that he meant to work hard while he was young
+so that he might earn money enough to be able to rest when he is old.
+He said he knew a man who had made a bank account that way, and he
+meant to do it too."
+
+"Nun, gut,--dat man he means might be me, Katrina," said Herr
+Baumgaertner, with a little glance of pride at his inner man.
+
+"He did not say it was you, Vater, but he is a good young man and I
+know you will like him. And I may go?"
+
+Herr Baumgaertner found it very hard to refuse Katrina anything, and
+when he felt obliged to do so he consoled himself with the reflection:
+
+"It causes me sorrow not to give her everyt'ings, but it is better for
+her."
+
+However, he felt that this was not the time for the discipline of
+self-denial, so he gave his consent.
+
+"Ja wohl, to-night kannst du, Katrinchen."
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you, Father," and she gave his arm an
+affectionate squeeze as together they passed out of the office.
+
+"Doesn't the store look fine, and how good everything smells," said
+Katrina, delighting in the spicy odors. But Katrina was in a mood to
+be delighted with anything.
+
+"So much thoughts, so great work, das ist," replied her father,
+looking at the exemplification of the law of supply and demand going
+on steadily before them, and added, "but die trade goes well dis
+year."
+
+"That is good, and when all is sold to-night that will be sold before
+the Christmas you will not forget the cakes and goodies for my poor
+little ones for to-morrow, will you? I have some of my Christmas money
+saved to pay for them, but I must have a great many for my money, five
+times as much as I could get with it anywhere else, or I will not buy
+here any more, Herr Papa," said Katrina roguishly.
+
+"Ach, Katrina, vy t'row so goot stuff away on dose children? Dey know
+not der value. I tell you it is joost one big waste."
+
+Katrina was too wise to argue with her father even if he would have
+permitted, and she knew that she would get her cakes in spite of his
+grumbling. Turning she saw the table with its array of Christmas
+puddings.
+
+"Oh, what beautiful puddings!" she exclaimed. "Would they not make
+such a handsome window with a bit of Christmas holly on each of them?"
+
+"Ja, so dose puddings would make one splendit window, Liebchen," said
+the baker. "So much eggs, und raisins, und currants, und spices, und
+wine dey took, und six hours to cook each one. But dey will keep a
+year."
+
+"And are they all sold?" asked Katrina.
+
+"Nein, nein, Katrina, we sell not one of dose puddings."
+
+"Not sell them, Father! Are you going to give them away?"
+
+"Katrina, Katrina, you remember not anyt'ings to-day. At home haf I
+not said how I send out one puddings each to mein best customers, and
+on die card my compliments?" and Herr Baumgaertner straightened himself
+proudly.
+
+"Oh, that is so. I had forgotten," said Katrina. "But if I were going
+to give them away I would not send them to rich people who have money
+to buy them. I would send them to poor people who never have such
+treats."
+
+"Katrina, you know not business. You t'ink der fisherman he put dat
+worm on dat hook to feed der fish, eh? Den how come all dose fish at
+night in his basket?"
+
+Katrina never let any differences with her father stare her out of
+countenance, so as he turned toward his office she followed him.
+
+"I nearly forgot one thing I wanted, Father. May I have a cake to send
+to the Widow M'Carty? She is the woman who washes for us sometimes,
+you know."
+
+"Lieber Himmel! Vy should I send to the Widow M'Carty one cake? Nein,
+Katrina. Should I gif everyt'ing away? Vat mit der baskets for dose
+orphan asylums yet, I am like one big Santa Clauses already."
+
+"But Mrs. M'Carty has nine little children, Vater--"
+
+"Maype she has, I care not. I feed not so many people's nine
+children."
+
+"Oh, Father, this will be such a sad Christmas for the poor woman. It
+is not a year, yet, since her husband was drowned. And think of those
+nine little M'Cartys with no dear, kind, handsome papa like
+mine,"--Herr Baumgaertner's features relaxed a little,--"and you've
+often told me when Grossvater Baumgaertner went to Hirschberg with you
+and the little Hans that died, how that kind man--"
+
+"Dere, dere, Katrina," broke in Herr
+
+Baumgaertner in an unsteady voice. "Take dot cake, and I hope it will
+not choke dose M'Cartys mit der strangeness of eating anyt'ing so
+goot."
+
+
+
+
+_Fourth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE SIX O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+Despite the many mechanical operations performed upon the family clock
+by the little M'Cartys, it ticked away the minutes, and the hours, and
+the days faithfully. Even on this special Christmas Eve when the
+fortunes of its owners seemed at their very lowest ebb, it did not so
+much as moderate its voice or slacken its movements. When the hour
+arrived that its long hand should point straight upward and its short
+hand straight downward, the bells of the city began to ring, and the
+whistles of the city began to blow, announcing, with much clamor and
+discordance, that another day of labor was ended.
+
+At the shriek of the first whistle Grandad Rafferty, who sat by the
+fire with baby Ellen on his knee, looked up at the clock and nodded to
+it approvingly.
+
+"Arrah now, ye little leprechaune that works while the rest do be
+shlapin', ye're tellin' the truth same as ever, for it's time for them
+that's workin' to be sthoppin'. I mind when I was young an' sphry how
+glad I was to lave me workin' an' run home to me swate Maggie, God
+rest her soul! And when she see me comin' over the hill, she'd be
+steppin' down the lane to mate me. And afther supper I'd smoke me
+dudheen whilst Maggie redded up the cabin and then--"
+
+"True for ye," broke in Granny M'Carty from her seat on the opposite
+side of the fire. She could not abide Grandad Rafferty's
+reminiscences, for they recalled to her the happy days in the old
+country,--the place to which her heart turned ever with longing,
+though she never expected to put foot again on its green turf. "It's
+ye that would sit and smoke an' yer Maggie workin' her legs off
+slavin' for yez. Och, it's the men have the aisy time in this life,
+but it's them same, I'm thinkin', that will pay for it by a longer
+sthop in purgatory, and I hope they will, so I do."
+
+"Indade, now, Mrs. M'Carty," began Grandad Rafferty, soothingly,
+"sure, the men have--"
+
+"Indade, then, they have not!" contradicted Granny. "Look at them men
+that's goin' home this minit,"--waving her hand as if toward a
+procession of laborers passing before her. "What have they to do? In
+the mornin' they're off with a fine lunch in their pails, an' never a
+bed to make, or a floor to swape, or a childer to clane, or a male to
+be cookin'. It's the womin must sthay at home and mind all that. And
+when they're home at night they'll eat their supper an' likely grumble
+at it, then sit at their ease an' smoke. Troth, if I had the word--"
+
+"Musha, musha, Mrs. M'Carty!" said Grandad. "Ye're clane forgettin'
+the men work hard all day, that the womin may sthay safe at home with
+their jewels of childers."
+
+"Jewels of childers, indade!" exclaimed Granny, her attention turned
+to a new grievance. "Them kind of jewels poor folks could do well
+withoot."
+
+"Listen to that now, Ellen, me jewel," said Grandad Rafferty,
+addressing himself to the baby on his knee. "Listen, but don't ye
+belave a worrd ye're hearin'. Yer Granny would not part with yez for
+long money. Would ye, Mrs. M'Carty? An' is she not ev'ry bit as fine a
+child as yer Michael when he wor a baby?"
+
+"Me Michael--may the Hivens be his bed--had the sense to be born a
+b'y, an' there was but two of him, an' here's yer grandchilder
+springin' up like blades of the grass for number. Oh, Michael,
+Michael," wailed Granny, "if ye could only see yer old mither now,
+'tis not aisy ye'd rest in yer grave if ye had a grave, which ye
+haven't, worse luck. Here I be, with never a dacent bit or sup, me
+that in the old counthry had bacon with me praties an' a fine shawl
+fer Sunday," and at this point Granny began to weep.
+
+"Whist now, whist, Granny!" cried Mrs. M'Carty, coming in from the
+lean-to where she had been to bestow the insignia of her office, her
+board and tubs. "Don't be grieving with yerself. I'll make the supper
+an' ye'll feel better when ye have something warm in yer stomick. It's
+not much we have, but when Dinny and Terence grow a bit more--"
+
+"Grow is it?" exclaimed Granny, finding in Bridget's words another
+source of wrath. "Ye'd betther be prayin' the saints to kape thim from
+growin'. Their clothes is far too small fer their size this minit."
+
+"Now Granny, it's yerself knows me prayers won't keep them boys from
+growing, but it's hoping I am that the clothes will come with their
+bigness."
+
+"That's like yer foolishness, Bridget M'Carty," retorted Granny. "It's
+ye that is always expectin' somethin' betther the morrow. It's the
+worst ye should be lookin' for, so it is, for it's that ye'll be
+afther gettin', more like."
+
+"Now Granny," replied Mrs. M'Carty, "it's never a minit I'll be
+wasting getting ready for troubles, for when troubles come they're a
+different sort entirely than them you do be ready for."
+
+At this moment the door, true to its habit of flying open at any and
+all times, swung briskly on its hinges, and admitted Denny and Terence
+returned from their sale of evening papers. Terence carried a small
+package while Denny waved aloft a branch of evergreen which he had
+rescued from the street.
+
+"Look every one of you and see what Terence is after bringing," cried
+Denny.
+
+"Ye've left the door open on me poor old bones," complained Granny.
+
+Five little M'Cartys sprang to shut the door.
+
+"It's samples I have--enough for the whole of us," said Terence,
+proudly displaying the contents of his bundle. "And it's a bit of milk
+you put with it and it's cooked. I seen them on the counter when I ran
+in a grocery to warm my fingers. 'Take one,' the card said, and I
+asked the clerk an' he says, 'Take two, you'll be a good advertisement
+for it.'"
+
+"Wheat Krakle, it is," said Denny, taking up one of the samples and
+reading the label. "Better than meat, and more n-o-u nur, r-i ri,
+s-h-i-n-g shing, nourishing, whatever that may be. And I says to
+Terence, 'what's two of them with twelve of us?' and says I, 'let's
+ask 'round and get one apiece,' and here you have them."
+
+Granny who, before the opening of the package, had hoped it might
+contain a "bit o' bacon, or a dhrawin' o' tay," of which luxuries she
+had been deprived for some time, leaned back in her chair with a
+groan.
+
+"Och hone, it's just one more of them new aitin's to sphile my
+stomick," she said. "May the devil fly away with them that makes them.
+Sure along with them haythinish sthuffs I've ate since poor Michael
+died on us, me insides feel like Brian O'Connell's oatfield in the old
+counthry, an' that same was half-bog an' half-bushes, bad scran to
+it!"
+
+"Now then, Mrs. M'Carty," said Grandad Rafferty, as usual finding some
+good in everything, "have ye no thought how ye're savin' yer teeth
+with these new aitin's that shlip down so aisy ye're not to the
+throuble of chewin' them?"
+
+But Granny was not to be mollified, and she refused to sit down with
+either of the relays of the family which gathered at the tiny table
+and partook of the food that was "Better than meat and far more
+nourishing."
+
+Supper being over and the dishes hastily washed by Katy, the four
+elder M'Cartys were allowed to set forth for an evening walk to admire
+the festive preparations for the morrow's holiday,--a holiday in the
+pleasures of which they had no hope of sharing. Four more M'Cartys
+were despatched to their humble couches, two of them, owing to
+Granny's faultfinding, having been spanked vigorously before being
+turned over to the arms of Morpheus. After all, perhaps the latter
+pair were the ones to be envied, as the heat thus engendered made the
+scantiness of the bedding less apparent.
+
+Granny M'Carty in the easiest chair and Grandad Rafferty in the next
+easiest, sat in silence on either side of the little stove that did
+double duty as heater and cooker. Presently they both fell nodding,
+and in their dreams wandered away to the green fields of Erin, living
+over again in their visions the days of their vanished youth.
+
+[Illustration: "TO ADMIRE THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS"]
+
+Now that there was no immediate need for action, Mrs. M'Carty gathered
+the little Ellen in her arms and sank down on a stool behind the
+stove. And as she sat there Memory came and stood by her and pointed
+back to other and happier Christmas Eves when she and Michael had made
+many a plan to delight the hearts of their numerous brood. The plans
+were simple enough, to be sure, but the children were too healthily
+happy to be critical. She recalled the rare Christmas Day when turkey
+had graced their board, and Michael, in Sunday attire, had sat at the
+head of the table and labored manfully with the unfamiliar joints of
+the holiday bird.
+
+[Illustration: "AND AS SHE SAT THERE MEMORY CAME AND STOOD BY HER"]
+
+"And now," her thought coming back to the present, "I've nothing for
+them children, barring the matter of a stick of candy that's hardly
+worth the mentioning, and for the Christmas eatings I've nought but a
+handful of apples the grocer gave Katy the morning, and a few
+potatoes, scarce enough for two apiece. And winter that long and
+dreary, and just my two hands to earn the bread to keep the souls in
+the whole of us. Oh, worra, worra, whatever shall I do without my
+Michael?" and Bridget, feeling herself practically alone, for Grandad
+and Granny still slumbered peacefully, gave vent to her feelings in a
+heavy sigh. The sound, however, was loud enough to rouse Grandad, who,
+in his assumed office of comforter-in-general to the M'Carty family,
+was ever on the alert to perform his duties. He leaned forward and
+looked anxiously into Bridget's face.
+
+"Biddy, darling," he cried, "sure ye're not grievin' on the blessid
+Christmas Eve? It's hard for yez with Michael dead an' gone, but
+grievin' won't bring him back. Think of them that ye have left,--them
+fine childers, an' Granny there. An' ye've me, but the saints know
+ye're betther off withoot me, that am just a care to yez and that lame
+I can't even lift a finger to help yez."
+
+"Now Grandad," cried Bridget, "it's I that am ashamed of you, I am,
+you that are a comfort, every minit, and no care to be speaking
+about. And I wasn't forgetting the children, either. They do be plenty
+of care, so they do, but they give a body a deal of comfort, and not a
+finger of them could I spare. And Granny there, sure she does be a bit
+cross now and then along with her rheumatism, but it keeps a body from
+thinking of worse things when she do be telling the faults of us. And
+when she's sleeping so sweet-like as she do be now, she's never a bit
+of care or worry. No, Daddy, it was of my hard work I was thinking,
+and wondering how I'd get enough to keep us alive this freezing
+winter."
+
+"Troth, now listen, Biddy!" said Grandad, ready with his word of
+cheer. "I was just afther dreamin' of a red hen, an' whenever I dream
+of a red hen, it's good news I'm soon hearin'."
+
+Granny awoke just in time to hear the last sentence.
+
+"Is it a hen ye dreamed ye were?" she queried. "It's because of eatin'
+that stuff that's not good for the hens, that gave yez them bad
+dreams."
+
+Then another phase of the cereal question presenting itself she turned
+to Mrs. M'Carty.
+
+"Bridget M'Carty, is it them same hen aitin's ye're givin' us for our
+dinner the morrow? Tell me that now?"
+
+So unexpectedly questioned as to her resources for the morrow's
+provisions, Bridget was startled into the admission that there was
+nothing in store save a few potatoes and the gift of apples; and the
+apples, like most gifts to the poor, could not be inspected too
+closely.
+
+"And it's all from my never getting pay for my washing. Not a penny
+did they give Katy, and me telling her to wait. Whatever they do be
+thinking a poor woman is washing their clothes for I do'no. To keep
+her hands red and sore, and her back just breaking with the bending
+over the tub, belike. I was to be getting two dollars, and now they'll
+be waiting till after Christmas to pay, and it's us will be waiting
+till after Christmas to eat. Sure it's just nothing we have to expect
+for our Christmas dinner, bedad."
+
+"Well, there now, honey," said Grandad Rafferty, undismayed at the
+prospect of a dinnerless day. "We'll never mind all that, for them
+that's expectin' nothin' will never have disappointment to be
+mournin'."
+
+Granny M'Carty, on hearing Bridget's recital broke forth into genuine
+Irish lamentations such as she had not indulged in since the news of
+Michael's untimely death, her wailings interspersed with the most
+direful prophecies of what was in store for the family.
+
+
+
+
+_Fifth Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGAeRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT SEVEN-THIRTY ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+It had been a very busy day in the Baumgaertner bakery, and now as the
+old Dutch clock on the wall struck seven, the clerks were flying
+hither and thither, wrapping up packages and plumping them into
+baskets, trying to get everything on their last loads, and at the same
+time to give polite service to the many customers coming and going.
+
+The Christmas puddings had not yet been delivered, but reposed in all
+their fruity richness on the white-covered table in the rear of the
+store, and exhaled such delicious odors that the whole air was
+permeated with what seemed the very essence of Christmas.
+
+The door opened, and this time Katrina Baumgaertner entered. In spite
+of the rush of business all the clerks stopped long enough to look at
+Miss Katrina, who had a smile and a "Merry Christmas!" for each. They
+felt very kindly toward the bright girl who took such an interest in
+their families; who remembered to ask after Mrs. Reiman's asthma, and
+Grandfather Potter's rheumatism, and who often sent delicacies to
+their invalids.
+
+"I forgot all about the cake for the Widow M'Carty's children," she
+explained, "so I came early to get it. I will mark it, and you won't
+forget to see that it is delivered, will you?" she asked, beaming on
+all the clerks at once.
+
+Every clerk declared that Mrs. M'Carty should have her Christmas cake
+if it had to be taken to her in person.
+
+"Katrina, stay here one leetle while and help your Vater," said the
+baker as Katrina stopped before his desk, where he was busy making
+entries in a large ledger. "You vos joost in time. Dere is dose
+puddings. Wrap dem in dose papers and set dem on dot table by der
+door oudt. Hans Kleinhardt comes soon mit der cards. Den he takes
+dose puddings and sends dem away."
+
+"Oh, father," cried Katrina in dismay, "I haven't time. I just came
+down to get the cake for the Widow M'Carty's children, and the
+sleigh-ride party will call for me here in a few minutes. Couldn't one
+of the clerks do it?"
+
+"Nein, nein, Katrina, dose clerks have too much business already. If
+you vants dot cake for dose M'Cartys, den you wrop up dose puddings
+right away queek. No vork, no play, mein Katrina."
+
+Katrina slipped off her cloak and went to work. The first pudding had
+been wrapped up when the sound of bells was heard mingled with the
+shouts of happy voices. She hastened to the door, but found it was not
+her sleigh-ride party after all, and was returning to her task when
+she remembered the cake for the Widow. Selecting a round loaf with
+nuts and candied fruits dotted over the frosted surface, she took it
+back with her to the table, did it up, and set it on the shelf behind
+her. Taking a card, she wrote:
+
+    "To Mrs. Michael M'Carty
+    with a Merry Christmas
+    from
+    Katrina Baumgaertner,"
+
+and was about to place it on the cake when another jingle of bells was
+heard. Catching up the pudding, she hurried again to the front of the
+store, set the pudding on the table, and, unwittingly, dropped beside
+it the card bearing the Widow M'Carty's name. She opened the door, but
+the sleigh with its merry load passed on, and Katrina returned to her
+enforced labors.
+
+Max Schaub was collecting the last parcels for his load when he
+chanced to see the package on the table. He picked up the card and
+read,--"Mrs. Michael M'Carty."
+
+"Bless her sweet eyes,"--meaning Katrina, not the widow,--"'Tis I will
+see that this cake gets to the Widow M'Carty's children. Does she not
+ask after the leg of my lame August as if it were her very
+own,"--meaning Katrina, not the widow,--"and in my coat pocket have I
+not the singing-box she has sent him for Christmas,--and she with nine
+small kinder, too?"--meaning the widow, not Katrina.
+
+Thus soliloquizing, he marked a basket in which he deposited the
+pudding, and gave it to his driver, telling him to leave it at the
+widow's on the way back to the store.
+
+[Illustration: "HE PICKED UP THE CARD AND READ"]
+
+Katrina tied up the second pudding and placed it on the table from
+which the first had been removed just as Clerk Reiman entered the
+door. Remembering Katrina's request, he went to the table, and reading
+the card, concluded that the package beside it contained the cake
+destined to make happy the nine small children of the Widow M'Carty.
+He put it in a basket, marked it for the widow, and gave it to his
+special driver, who was just starting off with his load.
+
+Katrina's mind was on the anticipated joys of the evening, and she
+performed her task mechanically, thinking all the time of Johann and
+longing for the arrival of the sleighing party.
+
+Ten more puddings were enveloped in their wrappings of lace-edged
+tissue paper; ten more puddings were deposited, one by one, on the
+table in the front of the store; ten more clerks, seeing the card
+beside a package,--for each in his hurry forgot to drop the card in
+his basket,--consigned a pudding to the care of his own driver,
+charging him to deliver it, without fail, to the Widow M'Carty with a
+"Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumgaertner."
+
+Katrina had wrapped up the last pudding, when the sound of a horn, a
+chorus of voices, and the music of sleigh-bells caused her to run to
+the door once more. She opened it to come face to face with the
+gallant Johann. Joyfully donning her wraps, she hastened away to join
+the sleighing party, leaving the thirteenth pudding to its fate.
+
+A few moments later the baker came out of his office, and seeing the
+puddings gone, nodded his head with satisfaction and said:
+
+"Dot Hans was one goot man. Him I haf nefer to vatch. He does joost
+vot I tells him, effery time already."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But where was the faithful Hans Kleinhardt who was personally
+responsible for the safe delivery of those thirteen puddings?
+
+His supper finished, Hans was hastening back to the store with the
+important cards in his pocket. A shout, a scurrying to avoid a runaway
+horse, a hurt man, a crowd, an ambulance,--and Hans Kleinhardt,
+unconscious of all around him, was on his way to the City Hospital.
+
+[Illustration: "WAS ON HIS WAY TO THE CITY HOSPITAL"]
+
+An hour later a surgeon, with an air of satisfaction, said to a quiet
+little nurse:
+
+"A beautiful fracture,--compound,--man in good condition,--will
+recover nicely,--but don't let him talk for twenty-four hours."
+
+And in that man's pocket lay thirteen cards, and _they_ never said a
+word.
+
+
+
+
+_Sixth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE EIGHT O'CLOCK CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+Every ill known or imagined by the pessimistic Granny had been voiced
+in graphic predictions, but at last even her vocabulary of grumblings
+was exhausted, and she hobbled off to her pallet,--the thump, thump,
+thump of her cane beating a resentful retreat.
+
+Grandad still sat in his corner, and Bridget left her uncomfortable
+seat and dropped into Granny's vacant chair.
+
+"Sure, it ain't much like Christmas Eve I'm thinkin'," she said,
+glancing at Grandad. "There's the difference in the look of things
+since Mike, me darling, is gone--him that always went into town, when
+he stayed home the day before Christmas, to buy presents for me an'
+the childer. I remimber, yes, I do, 'cause I aint forgot it yet, the
+elligant bonnit he bought me wanst. What with feathers standing this
+way an' that, I was the fine lady of all Fifth Street."
+
+"Ye wor that," answered Grandad, looking up with a twinkle in his kind
+gray eyes. "Ye wor that, Bridget, me girl, an' ye're the same this
+day, fithers or no fithers."
+
+"It's the feathers makes the bird, Daddy," sighed Bridget, but his
+pleasant word softened the despairing look on her care-worn face.
+
+"Fithers makes the birds, did ye say, Bridget?" continued Grandad.
+"What kind of rasonin' is that, sure? Nivir a fither have I seen that
+was not projuced by wan bird or anither. An' what difference does it
+make what kind of fithers a bird has whin he's picked, tell me that?
+For me taste, a bird is betther withoot fithers at all, at all."
+
+"Ah, well," said Bridget, "it's you that have the cheery word,
+Grandad, and it's good to hear, but to-night I'm that beat out I
+couldn't throw a stick at Dooley if he came to the door this minit."
+Mrs. M'Carty looked about the room, so scant with furniture and so
+cheerless.
+
+[Illustration: "'A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KATRINA BAUMGAeRTNER!'"]
+
+"It's no use trying--" she began, but at that moment a knock that
+fairly rattled the whole shanty called her to the door. It also woke
+up Granny M'Carty, who thrust her head from the bedclothes and peered
+into the kitchen.
+
+"'Tis a mistake," she growled as a round package was handed to her
+daughter, and a strange voice said:
+
+"A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumgaertner!"
+
+"'Tis a mistake, I say," she continued, as the delivery boy
+disappeared in the darkness, and Mrs. M'Carty, with hands trembling
+from excitement, carried the mysterious package to the lean-to.
+
+"Indeed, then, and it's no mistake," she whispered to herself as she
+opened the package and disclosed to view a beautiful Christmas
+pudding. "It's Miss Katrina, the darling, that's remembered us this
+night. One, two, three," she counted, as in imagination she divided
+the gift among the little M'Cartys. "Four, five, six,--sure, I must be
+more sparing of my pieces,--but bless the sweet Ellen, she can't eat
+any, and I'm not needing any myself,--but Grandad, and Granny, they
+must have a bit;--seven, eight, nine,--it's a trifle small, to be
+sure, but enough for a taste for the darlings. If Granny hadn't heard
+the boy, what a fine surprise I'd have for her; but she'll be wanting
+to know what the likes of me is getting for Christmas. She's that
+curious, she sleeps with her other eye open just to be seeing what she
+can hear. But I'll be letting her think it was a mistake, so I will."
+
+Bang! whack! bang! another thundering noise shook the rickety door.
+
+"I told you it was a mistake," screamed Granny. "He's come to take it
+away from yez."
+
+[Illustration: "SHE PLACED BOTH PUDDINGS IN HER APRON"]
+
+Mrs. M'Carty's heart sank. The gift evidently was a mistake.
+Concealing the pudding, divested of its wrappings, under her apron,
+she hastened to the door, to be handed another package with the same
+Christmas greeting from Miss Katrina Baumgaertner.
+
+Quick-witted and anxious to deceive the keen eyes and ears of old
+Granny, she placed both puddings in her apron, and with an audible
+sigh and lament that "poor folks couldn't have even the things that
+was give to them," she returned with renewed pleasure to her problem
+in division.
+
+"Sure," said she, "I must begin my count all over. It's Miss Katrina,
+bless her sweet eyes, knew one pudding for eleven of us would be just
+a bite. Now it's two puddings for eleven of us. I wish I had a
+yardstick and a 'rithmetic to measure them, so I do.
+
+"It's Christmas Eve after all," she continued, regarding with pleasure
+the two plump puddings, but the sound of approaching footsteps caused
+her to start again in fear that it might be as Granny had prophesied,
+all a mistake. She slipped quietly to the door and reached it in time
+to avert the knock which might have aroused Granny from her dozing.
+
+"A Merry Christmas from Katrina Baumgaertner," shouted a jolly boy as
+he placed a package in Mrs. M'Carty's hands. There was no mistaking
+this greeting, nor the contents of the parcel.
+
+"How many be she a-sending?" she whispered cautiously, and added by
+way of explanation, "The darlings is asleep, and I wouldn't want them
+to be knowing what a fine Christmas is coming for them."
+
+"Vell, vell, ain'dt one enough?" laughed the boy as he disappeared
+puddingless, leaving the bewildered Mrs. M'Carty in possession of the
+third treasure.
+
+"Now Grandad is nodding, and it's meself that's thinking there's no
+telling how many more Santa Clauses is coming to the M'Carty roof
+this night. I'll just take the light into the lean-to, and busy myself
+with a few pieces to fold down for my ironing; and if any more
+presents do be coming, they'll be taking them to the other door. Then
+Granny won't be hearing what's going on at all, at all."
+
+The removal of the light proved a wise precaution, though done in
+innocence of the avalanche of puddings which was fatefully descending
+upon the M'Carty household.
+
+Greater and greater was the surprise of the widow as pudding after
+pudding, and pudding after pudding was handed in, until twelve goodly
+brown concoctions graced her impromptu table,--a long white
+ironing-board.
+
+"Sure, I'm that excited, I'm fit to tie up," laughed Mrs. M'Carty, as
+she viewed the bounty of the unsuspecting Katrina. "Twelve puddings
+for twelve of us, even one for little Ellen. It ain't such a sum as I
+minded. Blessings on Miss Katrina,--may the saints have her in their
+keeping,--we've a pudding apiece this Christmas. It's thankful I am,
+and I'm not complaining, but I could' a' wished she'd tried a little
+variety. Bedad, if there wasn't so many of them, they'd seem to be
+more, so they would."
+
+
+
+
+_Seventh Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGAeRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT TEN O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+It was ten o'clock on Christmas Eve, and had it not been for the
+holiday decorations, Baker Baumgaertner's establishment would have
+presented a somewhat forlorn appearance. The shelves, which earlier in
+the day were filled with bread, cakes, and confections of all kinds,
+were now almost bereft of their store, and the whole aspect of the
+place was disorderly and confused. Boxes and baskets, papers and
+strings cluttered every available corner. The clerks and drivers,
+congratulating themselves that they were finishing so early in the
+evening, had just begun the task of clearing up, when the baker
+entered the store.
+
+"Donnerwetter!" he exclaimed, on seeing the untidy interior. "Vat a
+looking place is dis! Oh, vell, I tink I can stand it ven it fills my
+pockets mit moneys."
+
+He stepped behind the brass screen that kept possible intruders at a
+respectful distance from the money-drawer. Opening it, he found that
+the contents of the drawer had grown very perceptibly during his
+absence, and he surveyed his gains with a feeling of deep
+self-gratulation.
+
+The Widow M'Carty's cake and the thirteen puddings must have been
+bread cast upon the waters that day, and so rich was the quality it
+had returned at once, many fold.
+
+"Der Widow M'Carty's cake, and der orphans' t'ings were nodings," he
+soliloquized. "But dose puddings! Dere was gut rich stuff in dose, but
+I got plenty moneys, I can spare dose puddings to my customers ven I
+gets dem back sometime all right."
+
+Looking through his change window, he saw his clerks, who evidently
+had made their employer's interests their own, busily rearranging
+everything before going home, and transforming the chaotic condition
+of the store into one of order. The fact of their fidelity was very
+manifest, and may have reminded him of all the pleasures of Christmas
+Eve which they had forfeited in consequence of his extra holiday
+trade. According to his custom, he must bestow on each a Christmas
+remembrance, but it was not in the spirit of a cheerful giver that he
+contemplated the act.
+
+"Himmel!" he said under his breath. "Twelve clerks and twelve drivers,
+and Hans Kleinhardt, my head man, besides all dose bakers. It makes me
+poor ven I am joost rich," and he sighed regretfully at the thought.
+
+The widow's cake and the thirteen puddings, although his voluntary
+gift, had not been spared without a wrench, and now to be confronted
+with the necessity of adding to them was too much for human
+nature,--or at least for Baumgaertner nature. He turned as if
+addressing some one over his shoulder,--probably his good angel,
+whose winged company is especially active on Christmas Eve,--and
+muttered reproachfully, "You expect me to be one Santa Claus again?"
+
+However, he knew that he could not escape his kind intent, and being
+withal a just man, yielded with a sigh.
+
+From the money-drawer he took a crisp five-dollar bill, laid it on the
+desk before him, and regarded it thoughtfully. The longer he looked at
+it the harder it seemed to part with twenty-four of them, and with an
+emphatic shake of the head he thrust it back again. He next selected a
+bright silver dollar, but, true to his better nature, he acknowledged
+its insufficiency, and swept it after the five-dollar bill. His third
+move was a compromise. He took twenty-four two-dollar bills, looked at
+them for a moment regretfully, then gathered them in his hand and
+walked toward where the clerks were just finishing and locking up for
+the night.
+
+[Illustration: "'GOTT IN HIMMEL! DONNER UND BLITZEN!'"]
+
+As he passed through the store, he glanced here and there with the
+keen eye of the master, stopping suddenly as he espied a package which
+looked suspiciously like a Christmas pudding. A sniff and a touch was
+enough to satisfy this expert. Down, down deep in his pocket went the
+precious bills, while the air reverberated with German expletives.
+
+"Gott in Himmel! Donner und Blitzen!" he thundered in tones that had
+not been heard in that store since the baker had discovered salt
+instead of sugar on a large batch of cinnamon kuchen.
+
+The alarmed clerks stared at the baker in consternation. Two or three
+of the new ones retreated to the door, but the braver hurried to their
+irate employer, who stood glowering like a thunder-cloud and pointing
+to a certain round object reposing innocently on a table.
+
+"Der Teufel! Was meint das? Das geht nicht," shrieked the baker, who
+was apt, under excitement, to fall into his native tongue. "Who has
+not his pudding got? Wo ist dat Hans Kleinhardt?"
+
+The head clerk could not be found, and as none of the other
+clerks knew aught of the Christmas pudding scheme, the direst
+misunderstanding ensued. In the midst of the excitement the front door
+opened and Katrina rushed in, her cheeks aglow and her enthusiasm
+beautiful to behold were there no puddings in the case.
+
+"Oh, Father, I ran in--" she began, then stopped suddenly. A glance at
+her father told her that some dreadful thing had happened to disturb
+the peaceful serenity that usually pervaded Herr Baumgaertner's
+establishment. The baker turned to her.
+
+"Vat did you do mit dose Christmas puddings, already?"
+
+"Why, Father," answered Katrina, "I wrapped them up and put them on
+the table by the door, just as you told me to, before I went to the
+sleigh-ride. They must be here somewhere."
+
+A vigorous search for the puddings ensued, but it was a fruitless
+quest.
+
+After a little, when the baker had calmed down somewhat, Katrina
+ventured to tell her errand.
+
+"I came in to see if the Widow M'Carty's cake had been sent to her,
+and if it hasn't, the sleigh-ride party is here and we will drive down
+and take it to her."
+
+"Dat cake? I know nodings about it. Did any von send the Widow M'Carty
+her cake?" turning to the clerks.
+
+"The Widow M'Carty's cake!" cried all the clerks in unison. "Why, I
+sent it to her!"
+
+"The Widow M'Carty's cake!" chorused twelve highly excited drivers.
+"Why, I took it to her!"
+
+"Mein Gott! Mein Gott!" ejaculated the baker as the fate of his
+puddings dawned upon him. "Twelve cakes to the Widow M'Carty, und day
+was all puddings!"
+
+[Illustration: "'TWELVE CAKES TO THE WIDOW M'CARTY!'"]
+
+
+
+
+_Eighth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE TEN-O'CLOCK ON CHRISTMAS EVE
+
+
+Great is the mission of the plum pudding to elevate and refine. Poor
+Mrs. M'Carty, who had been too tired even to throw a stick at the
+Dooleys, and had meant only to wait for the return of the children to
+seek her much-shared bed, now began to bethink herself of active
+preparations for the unexpected festivities of the morrow.
+
+The fire was encouraged to bestir itself, a kettle of water was put on
+to heat, and pails and scrubbing-brush were brought from the lean-to.
+
+At this juncture the returned sightseers burst into the room, Katy and
+Norah both talking at once. Terence and Denny were not far behind in
+their utterances, and though perhaps more coherent, were certainly not
+less enthusiastic. It was well that the eloquence of tongues spoke in
+their wonder-filled eyes, for otherwise no mere mortal could have
+interpreted the steadily rising tones and varied inflections which
+were excitedly mingled in a Babel of sounds.
+
+The scraping of snow and the confusion attendant upon their sudden
+entrance filled Mrs. M'Carty with new alarm, but she collected her
+wits enough to whisper with desperate vehemence, while she waved her
+scrubbing-cloth wildly:
+
+"Whist now, will you, and mind that I don't hear another word out of
+your heads, or you'll be waking up Granny, for upon my soul, her eyes
+ain't been shut more than this blessed two minutes. I hope to goodness
+you won't be disturbing her, for I be just going to do up her cap for
+the Christmas. Now off with yourselves to bed, and not another word
+out of your heads to-night, till to-morrow. Och, Katy dear! What would
+you be telling me that for again? Sure you've repeated it three
+times, not counting the twice of Terence's. Now, now, boys, will you
+mind your mother, and go to bed like good children, and be getting up
+bright and early with Christmas morning faces on you?"
+
+The boys obeyed and were soon deep in dreams in which "cops" were
+selling newspapers out in the cold, and newsboys were in Huyler's
+warming their feet while ladies in fluffy furs treated them to candy
+and ice-cream.
+
+The widow bestowed a grateful look on the two lads asleep in the bunk
+which had been built in the little jog between the kitchen and
+lean-to. Then she tiptoed past them into the inner room where she
+found Katy and Norah whispering excitedly and with no prospect of
+cessation until their mother's voice reminded them of their promise to
+be quiet.
+
+"Now, child of grace, get into the bed," she said to Katy, "and don't
+be keeping yourselves awake till the morning, and don't be forgetting
+to say your prayers."
+
+Mrs. M'Carty slipped back to the kitchen, where Grandad sat dozing in
+his one-armed rocking-chair, and immediately began to busy herself
+with fresh energy.
+
+"Off with your shirt, Grandad," she said, cheerfully, as the old man
+gave a sleepy jerk to his head. "It's the best one you have, and I'll
+wash it out in a minute and iron it to-night. You can wrap that old
+shawl about you, and while your shirt's a-soaking, I'll give you a
+brush over with a bit of soap and water, for it'll be that lively in
+the morning, there'll never be the bit of a chance, at all; and I'm
+not one to leave till the proper time them things I've the opportunity
+of doing now."
+
+The shirt being consigned to the soaking process, Bridget next
+attacked her father. When his ablutions were finished, she pinned a
+shawl around his shoulders, and moved his chair nearer the fire. With
+his cheeks glowing from their recent administration of soap and water,
+Grandad watched the washing and starching of his blue gingham shirt,
+thinking the while of its stiffness, which would encase him on the
+morrow, but at the same time regarding it as one of those trials to be
+borne without complaint.
+
+Mrs. M'Carty hung the shirt close to the fire to dry, while she
+"scrubbed thot strip in front of the sthove;" then she left the
+strip, "bekase," as she said in her state of bewilderment and joy,
+"Oi musht do the shirt whiles the irons is hot, an' it do beat all how
+fasht thim irons does het oop whin ye ain't waitin' on thim." So,
+getting up from her knees, and leaving a good-sized puddle for future
+attention, she proceeded to pound the iron on Grandad's shirt and one
+neck-cloth, turning now and then to the sweet-tempered old man, who
+sat smiling at her as she bustled to and fro.
+
+"Ye'll be that fine to-morrow," said Bridget, "that you'll not be
+after knowing yourself, sure. And your hair will be combed that
+smooth, you'll look ten years younger. It does be, I mind, it's the
+hair that adds the years to your life."
+
+Grandad Rafferty, his spirits undepressed by what sufferings the
+ordeal of starch and comb might have in store for him, tapped his
+empty pipe on the edge of the stove and responded softly,--
+
+"'Tis ye, Biddy M'Carty, would hearten up a ghost, so ye would."
+
+"It's a quare way ye have of jabberin' all through the night that a
+body can't get a wink of slape," came the querulous tones of Granny
+from her pallet in the farther corner of the inner room. "An' it's
+that cold in here--an' why in the world do ye be burnin' the fire in
+the night an' wasthin' the wood, an' we'll be sittin' 'round freezin'
+to-morra with no fire at all,--so we will."
+
+For a moment Bridget's spirits fell, but the next instant they rose
+again.
+
+"Wait a bit, now, Granny, and I'll be bringing you a warm iron to your
+feet, and before you know it you'll be dreaming of the smell of fresh
+peat coming in the door."
+
+"Dhramin' is it, Oi'd be?" growled Granny, and in a moment more her
+cane was heard thumping vigorously on the floor. Bridget and Grandad
+had scarcely more than time to exchange a sympathetic glance when
+Granny appeared with her red flannel petticoat over her nightgown and
+a black and white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She came
+hobbling in, sniffing the sudsy moisture and complaining:
+
+[Illustration: "'IT'S MORE ROOMETIZ FOR ME, SO IT IS'"]
+
+"It's more roometiz for me, so it is.--Begorra, but it's piercin' cold
+in there.--It's you that has the comfortable spot, Misther Rafferty.
+It do be that draughty when yer comin' through this way," and thus
+speaking her mind on a few points, Granny made her way slowly to her
+chair and seated herself in it.
+
+Meantime Bridget was quietly raising geysers of suds in her endeavors
+to conceal the luckless cap.
+
+"Bridget M'Carty," demanded Granny, "what on earth do ye be workin' at
+there that ye be puttin' out me eyes fairly, with splashin' soapsuds
+in them? Is it my cap yer sousin' up and down, now? Indade, then, and
+it is, an' me just wantin' it. No wonder I'll be gettin' more pain in
+my bones, with the wind blowin' like a penethratin' blast through the
+windy, an' me with no cap, an' ye kapin' yerself warm be exercisin'."
+
+"Och, now, Granny," said Bridget, hoping to pacify her, "sure I
+thought it would be a grand surprise for you when you woke in the
+morning, to see them tie-ends hanging before your eyes all starched
+up, that Miss Barney's mother might just be envying you."
+
+"Envyin' me, would she?" replied Granny. "Like enough 'twill not be
+dry by mornin' at all, an' whin I do put it on, I'll be gettin' that
+pain in me head agin."
+
+Grandad's conciliatory remark was never heard, for Granny's mutterings
+continued while her patient daughter-in-law starched and ironed the
+cap. When it was finished and hung by the fire to air, Bridget, with a
+weary smile, turned to her father.
+
+"Come now, Daddy," she said, "you'll not be wanting to get up if you
+don't be getting to your bed soon."
+
+"Well, thin, if ye're meanin' to put the light out in me face, I'll go
+back to my bed before ye do," snapped Granny, and so she went.
+
+When Grandad had been snugly tucked into his cot in the kitchen, and
+the pails and mops put out of sight, Bridget lay down to a
+well-earned sleep and dreamed that the fairies were pelting her with
+puddings, every third one of which fell into her mouth and was
+swallowed whole.
+
+
+
+
+_Ninth Episode_
+
+HERR BAUMGAeRTNER'S ESTABLISHMENT CHRISTMAS DAY
+
+
+Herr Baumgaertner's first impulse, on finding out what had become of
+his Christmas puddings, was to send at once to the Widow M'Carty's and
+have them returned to him. Had it not been for the lateness of the
+hour, doubtless this is what would have happened.
+
+But the night brings counsel, even in the matter of plum puddings, and
+by morning the baker had concluded that it was wiser to let the
+unlucky gifts remain in their misfit quarters. Perhaps Katrina's
+remark, that his customers would be wroth if they found they had eaten
+puddings that had been stored for a night, even, in so well-inhabited
+an abode, influenced his decision.
+
+However that may be, the baker said to Katrina as he sat down to his
+breakfast:
+
+"Vell, Katrina, if we haf given somedings away in the wrong place, we
+will not now take it back. But Katrina, dose beautiful puddings, and
+dose M'Cartys! ach! ach!" and he shook his head sorrowfully at the
+thought that these culinary triumphs should have fallen to those so
+incapable of appreciating a wonderful Baumgaertner plum pudding.
+
+In the eyes of the baker, to give twelve Christmas puddings to the
+M'Cartys was indeed to cast one's pearls before swine.
+
+Herr Baumgaertner could not remain out of sorts for any length of time,
+and when he found by his plate a gift from his beloved Katrina of a
+long meerschaum pipe from the Fatherland, he smiled and said:
+
+"Ven I smokes dat pipe den I forget dose plum puddings."
+
+The pipe, indeed, performed a placatory mission, for as the first
+rings of its smoke curled upward, it became a veritable pipe of
+peace.
+
+Later the baker and Katrina attended church together, and at the close
+of the service Herr Baumgaertner left his daughter and wended his way
+to the bakery.
+
+He tarried in front of the window occupied by the Christmas tree,
+whose gaily trimmed branches recalled to him so vividly the years when
+his little Fritz had furnished the joy and merriment of the holiday
+season. How the wee baby had bounded,--almost out of his mother's
+arms,--at sight of his first tree! Now the baker had only Katrina to
+cheer him, while he, in turn, was devoted to his daughter. His
+present errand to the bakery was to get some of her favorite Marzipan
+for their Christmas dinner, it having slipped his mind the night
+before in the distraction of the pudding calamity.
+
+As he unlocked the door and entered the store, almost the first object
+to claim his attention was the last Christmas pudding "left standing
+alone; all its nut-brown companions labelled and gone." None of his
+clerks had dared to risk his position by meddling with that package.
+Herr Baumgaertner picked up the package, saying with a sigh, as he
+unwrapped it:
+
+"Oh, well, you might as well go in the window and make a good show.
+Maybe I can sell you for New Year's day."
+
+While the baker was busy arranging his wares to make room for the
+pudding, a man came sauntering slowly up the street, pausing as he
+came to the window. He was clad in a rough suit which here and there
+showed the want of a prudent feminine stitch. The first glance showed
+him to be simply an honest Hibernian laborer. Further scrutiny
+disclosed the fact that he was a man who had passed through unusual
+experiences, for his bronzed face told of hardship and exposure. At
+each footfall he looked up imploringly at the passer-by, only to turn
+away with a sigh of disappointment. As he looked at the good things in
+the baker's window, he said to himself:
+
+"Ah, my poor Bridget and the little ones are likely fasting, when they
+ought to be having the fill of the table. And myself looking every
+place for them till the feet of me is wore off entirely. The cottage
+is empty, and the priest is a new one, and can't tell me nothing.
+Mebbe they've gone to the old country, or mebbe they're all--" and
+here he shuddered and shut his lips tightly, for he would not admit
+the worst.
+
+"Be jabers," his thoughts taking on a new turn, as he caught sight of
+a pudding being placed in the window before him, "if I could just find
+them, wouldn't I make the mouths of them water with that pudding. Like
+enough Patsy and Maggie and Norah and Katy ain't had a bite to eat of
+anything decent these six months. Heaven bless the spalpeens, how they
+would fall on that pudding! And me darling Biddy, bedad, ain't tasted
+one since she was living with the Church of Ireland minister in
+Limerick. And here I be, with money enough to buy them everything
+good, and not one out of them left to be buying for. Oh, well, I've no
+mind in me to eat myself, but I might as well step in and buy them two
+buns," and thereupon he entered the store.
+
+The new customer did not look especially promising; still, the baker
+had known far shabbier individuals to invest a dollar, even, on a
+holiday, so he advanced with a smile and said:
+
+[Illustration: "HIS GLANCE FELL UPON SOMETHING WHITE THAT LAY ON THE
+COUNTER"]
+
+"Vat can I do for you, my friend?"
+
+Pointing to the large, well-sugared buns, the man began, "Give me
+two--" when his glance fell upon something white that lay on the
+counter,--that ubiquitous card that had wrought so much mischief; the
+card bearing the name and address of Mrs. Michael M'Carty.
+
+"Vat's the matter mit you?" said the baker impatiently, anxious for
+him to complete his order.
+
+"Oh, my God, what's this?" cried the man, snatching up the card.
+
+"Dot? Vy, dat is one card to go mit one cake to the Widow M'Carty."
+
+"Widdy, widdy, is it?" cried the man, angrily. "Sure the man that
+calls her that will answer to me for it. Why would she be a widdy, and
+me working and saving as a respectable husband should for her?"
+
+"Wait awhile,--tell me,--was you Mr. Widow M'Carty?"
+
+"Who would I be then, but Michael M'Carty? It's some of them
+blathering Barneys that's after calling me Bridget a widdy. Their
+lying tongues are all the time wagging with some scandal on a woman
+that hasn't a good strong man to protect her and the childers. But
+tell me quick, where are they, and are they alive, all alive?"
+
+"I hear my Katrina speak about dem. But vere haf you been this long
+time? I t'ought you was drownded, already."
+
+"Sure, 'twas meself thought so too, the whole of the night, and I
+wished I'd never stepped me foot on that old tub of a _Go-Between_,
+for it was the devil's own. When we got in Lake Superior, a storm came
+after us sudden, and we all went down together. I was in a hole of a
+place I had to slape in,--sure a dog couldn't close his eye in that
+corner,--and in the middle of the night, down they came hustling every
+one of us out. 'Say yer prayers,' says they, 'for we're a-goin' to
+the bottom, and the Lord help us. There's not one of yez will see yer
+darlints again.' The water was terrible boisterous, and grabbed
+everythin' off the decks. Faith, it wouldn't have been so bad if we'd
+a place left for the sole of our foot, but she was gone entirely. A
+board hit me and I hung on to it, and Pat Sweeny came up from down in
+the water and hung on with me, and the noises of that night I'll never
+be getting out of me head. When it come daylight we see the
+pilot-house a-floating, and we got on that, and Pat Sweeny waved his
+red handkerchief, and I tried to push us along with the board, to the
+land we see a long way off. In the middle of the morning, we spied a
+little boat coming to us, and may the blessed Virgin spare them two
+men in it as long as they live. It was a bare enough place we come to,
+but 'twas the land, and may I be struck dead if ever I take me two
+feet off it, for it's not the likes of me will set foot on one of
+them traps of the devil again."
+
+"Ach, Gott, das war wundervoll, wundervoll," said the baker, "but tell
+me vy you stayed so long away?"
+
+"And what would the likes of me be doing with everything gone, but to
+be getting some money to come with? There were some copper mines
+there, and Pat and me went digging in the mines, and the engineer
+dying sudden-like with a fall down the shaft, it was me was there to
+be getting his job. I wrote Bridget as soon as ever I thought she
+would be looking for me coming home, and told her I wouldn't be there
+till I could earn some money to come by land, and what with the fine
+engineer wages I was getting, she needn't be expecting me till the end
+of the season. When I came home with me pile of money to give them all
+a grand Christmas, I found 'em lost on me, and I've looked every place
+these three days, and never a sound of them have I heard till now,
+and God bless ye for the good words you're giving me this day.--Troth,
+now that I'm after finding them, I ought to be buying that grand
+pudding in the windy," and diving into his pocket, he produced a roll
+of bills.
+
+"Nein, nein," said the baker, waving the money away, "dat pudding was
+not made to sell, it was made to gif away. You takes dat pudding to
+Mrs. M'Carty mit the gompliments of Herr Baumgaertner."
+
+With a hearty Merry Christmas, Michael M'Carty hurried away with the
+pudding in one hand, and the card in the other. Herr Baumgaertner,
+taking his Marzipan, went home to tell Katrina the news, laughing over
+his Christmas joke, and chuckling to himself:
+
+"Dat is vere dat pudding seems to belong!"
+
+
+
+
+_Tenth Episode_
+
+WIDOW M'CARTY'S ABODE CHRISTMAS DAY
+
+
+Mrs. M'Carty rose early on Christmas morning, her mind bewildered by
+the fantastic visions of the night.
+
+"Sure, them puddings was all a dream," she said to herself, as she
+kindled her fire, "and what's the good of such dreams as that, but
+just to make a body discouraged with the truth of the daytimes? But,
+any how, I'll look at where I dreamed I put them, and then my mind
+will be easy for me work."
+
+More skeptical than hopeful, she went to the place where she had
+hidden them, and lo! to her great joy there they were,--twelve
+luscious, fruity puddings.
+
+"And they're just bursting with richness, and begging to be ate," she
+said. "It'll be a grand day for the childer, and they shall have their
+fill, for it's many a long, hungry day they'll be seeing before
+another Christmas."
+
+Breakfast was never a protracted function in the M'Carty household,
+but to Mrs. M'Carty, who was anxious to begin the festive preparations
+which the puddings had made possible, the scanty meal seemed unusually
+prolonged. Nothing but action could keep her from syndicating her
+secret before the proper moment, so while the repast was in progress,
+she hurried about doing, undoing, and doing over again, various
+household tasks. Finally Granny M'Carty, who had noticed Bridget's
+restlessness, exclaimed:
+
+"Are ye crazy, then, Bridget M'Carty? It's the third time this day
+ye've spread me bed, and ye'll not lave a whole fither in me pillow
+with yer senseless beatin's."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. M'Carty, ceasing from her labor, "if you're done
+with your breakfast, listen to me. Praise to the good Saint Antony, I
+found a ten-cent piece yesterday, I'd been saving that long I forgot I
+had it entirely, and with the help of Grandad's two lucky pennies he
+was never intending to spend,--may the saints spare him long to
+us,--I've a stick of candy apiece for the whole of you."
+
+[Illustration: "'A STICK OF CANDY APIECE'"]
+
+"Hoorooh!" shouted all the little McCartys in chorus.
+
+"Blessin's on the good Saint Antony!" said Grandad Rafferty, beaming
+on the excited children.
+
+"Stop yer sphakin' with such a noise!" cried Granny. "Them racketin's
+would deafen the saints themselves, so they would."
+
+"Then would them saints be getting ear-trumpets like Tim Barney's
+grandmother?" queried little Norah, climbing on the back of Granny's
+chair and peering over her shoulder.
+
+"Go along with yez, an' don't be askin' such irriverent questions, an'
+kape yerself from the back of me chair, a-shakin' me roometiz all over
+me."
+
+Bridget thumped on the table for quiet and proceeded to distribute the
+sticks of candy, each wrapped in a separate piece of paper. Grandad
+unrolled the paper and eyed his stick of candy lovingly.
+
+"Troth, it's peppermint," he said, "an' there's nothin' like
+peppermint to comfort a body's stomick. It's that long since I tasted
+it, I'd clane forgot how it looked, bedad."
+
+"Well, Bridget M'Carty," said Granny M'Carty, "It's ye that might have
+minded me health an' remembered that lemin with roometiz is like
+pourin' ile on fire. Ye must know, if ye have any sense,--which I
+misdoubt,--that roometiz hates lemin as bad as the devil hates holy
+wather," and she sniffed contemptuously.
+
+"Never mind that, Granny," said Grandad. "Bridget rolled up them candy
+and never took note of the kinds, so there'd be no strivin' with the
+childers. I'll take yer lemin an' ye're welcome to me peppermint.
+'Twill warm yer stomick an' yer feelin's, an' acushla machree, it's
+not so hard on the teeth ayther," and he surrendered his candy with a
+charming smile.
+
+"Me teeth are as good as yours any day," retorted Granny, but she did
+not hesitate to make the exchange. However, she inspected the candy
+carefully and wiped it on the corner of her shawl before applying it
+to her mouth.
+
+"Now, then," said Mrs. M'Carty, after the candy had disappeared,
+"listen while I do be telling you the order of the day. You boys,
+Denny and Terence, slip across to the pile of lumber handy on the
+tow-path, and bring me back three wide boards. We'll borry them for a
+table, and take them back when we're done. My family is all going to
+sit down to once to their Christmas dinner, the same as them rich
+folks do on the avenue. And there'll be a place for me poor Michael,
+that was and isn't. Run along now, boys, and pick clean ones, and you,
+Katy and Norah, wash the dishes, and when the table is fixed you can
+all go on the avenue and look in the windys, but mind you're home when
+the bells are ringing for twelve."
+
+Their tasks were quickly finished, and eight little M'Cartys set off
+for their outing, two-year-old Patsy being bestowed in a box nailed
+on an old sled, and drawn by the others in turn. Grandad Rafferty
+watched them until they were out of sight and sound.
+
+"It's a fine time they'll be afther havin'," he said as he took little
+Ellen on his knee and settled himself comfortably in his chair,--or as
+comfortably as the unwonted stiffness of shirt and neckcloth would
+permit. Then he whispered a wonderful story to the baby, and though
+she could not understand a word, it served its purpose, for presently
+the little head nodded and the big blue eyes closed in slumber.
+
+Granny M'Carty, who from the inner room had herself been observing the
+departure of her grandchildren toward the habitations of affluence,
+now returned to her seat by the fire.
+
+"'Tis I would never let them childer go wanderin' off like that, with
+a chance of their never comin' home agin," she commented, "but
+annyhow it'll be sthill for a bit."
+
+The children safely out of the way, Mrs. M'Carty began at once her
+arrangements for the feature of the day,--the Christmas dinner so
+bountifully provided with dessert.
+
+She took from her chest her one linen table cloth, woven in a most
+elaborate design of shamrocks. Her husband had seen and admired the
+pattern, displayed in a shop window, one St. Patrick's Day, and it
+being in the first year of his marriage, when there was but Bridget to
+share his purse, he had bought the cloth and given it to her for a
+present. The occasions which had been deemed worthy so beautiful a
+table-cover, had been few and far removed, so the linen was "every bit
+as good as new."
+
+"You're fine enough for the queen's use," said Mrs. M'Carty,
+apostrophizing the cloth as she spread it carefully on her improvised
+dining-table and smoothed its snowy folds. "Sure, you're a trifle
+small for me big table, so I'll be putting you in the middle, and
+piecing you out at the two ends with me red and white Sunday
+table-cloths that ain't seen the daylight since we came to this sorry
+hole of a place, for it's not oilcloth that the M'Cartys shall be
+eating their dinner on this day."
+
+The linen cloth being spread in the centre of the table and
+supplemented at either end with a "red Sunday table-cloth" of more
+prosperous days, Mrs. M'Carty took from the top shelf in the cupboard
+her "set of flowered dishes"--another early marital gift. Though cheap
+in quality, and the plates, cups, etc., in half-dozens instead of
+dozens, these dishes had been Mrs. M'Carty's special pride ever since
+Michael had proudly bestowed them upon her.
+
+"Look, Biddy, me darlint," he had said. "I've brought you as grand a
+lot of dishes as ever I saw, and do you mind them posies they have?
+They're like the roses growing forninst Father Kelly's wall, where I
+used to meet you when you were Biddy Rafferty."
+
+"Go along wid yer foolishness, Michael M'Carty," was Bridget's reply,
+but she had cherished the gift above all her other possessions, and
+like the table-cloth, the dishes were used but seldom.
+
+"Bridget M'Carty!" cried Granny, when she saw Bridget setting out the
+dishes, "are ye usin' them dishes me poor b'y bought with his hard
+earnin's? I'd think ye'd more respect for Michael than to set out them
+fine plates to be broken by them careless haythins."
+
+But Bridget assured Granny she would keep watch over the precious
+ware, and went on with her preparations as zealously as though she
+were preparing a banquet for noble folk. She had a small package of
+tea which had been given her by one of the conductors for whom she
+washed. He was an Irish boy lately come from the old country, and
+Mrs. M'Carty's sympathy for his homesickness had won from him this
+Christmas remembrance. The tea was a most welcome gift, for her
+finances had not permitted her to buy this beverage for many days. She
+had not mentioned it, for she wished to have as many surprises as
+possible, for, thought she, "Surprises is about all they'll be
+getting."
+
+Granny had followed her daughter-in-law's movements with a lofty,
+scornful look, but when she saw her take down the old brown teapot and
+give it a washing, she could not refrain from a question.
+
+"Is it tay ye're afther havin'?" she asked, almost forgetting herself
+at the thought and speaking in an amiable tone.
+
+"Yes, Granny, but I was intending it for a surprise."
+
+"Wan time is as good as another for a surprise," said Granny. "If it's
+a good one it gives a body somethin' pleasant to be thinkin' about,
+an' if it's a bad one, then the sooner ye're told the sooner ye do be
+gettin' over it."
+
+The animated look in Granny's eyes showed that, in her opinion, this
+surprise was a good one, and Grandad Rafferty opened his eyes in
+astonishment when he heard her crooning a bit of the "Low-backed Car."
+
+"It's the peppermint did it," said he to himself, "an' may the saints
+kape it lastin' till bedtime."
+
+By noon the banqueting-hall of the M'Cartys presented a most festal
+appearance. The flowered dishes were displayed to the best advantage,
+and the red cotton table-cloths served the purpose of a color scheme.
+The baked apples adorned the centre of the table, flanked at either
+side by plates of bread. The oven door stood ajar, disclosing two
+dishes of steaming potatoes waiting to be transferred to the table,
+and later to the plates and stomachs of the juvenile M'Cartys.
+
+When the twelve o'clock bells began to ring, Bridget poured the water
+over the tea and set the teapot over the fire, where the beverage
+immediately began boiling with a vigor that would have appalled an
+epicurean taste. Granny M'Carty was moved up to the centre of the
+table on one side, and Grandad Rafferty was installed opposite. Little
+Ellen, in the charge of her grandfather, immediately preempted a
+spoon, and in her enjoyment of the new plaything brought it down with
+a smart rap on one of the plates.
+
+"I told yez ye'd be afther havin' ev'ry last one of them dishes
+broke," scolded Granny. "Ye're that extravagant with yer things,
+Bridget M'Carty, it's no wonder ye went an' lost yer husband. An'
+where's them childers that was to be comin' home at twilve? Sure they
+never do as they're bid unless the devil's afther them, an' if
+they're not here soon the tay will be sphoiled entirely," and she
+sniffed the air anxiously.
+
+At this critical moment the door, true to its habit, sprung open, and
+the eight laughing, panting, ruddy M'Carty heirs and heiresses filled
+the little room to overflowing. Their wraps were thrown aside and they
+were about to make a grand rush for the table when Mrs. M'Carty
+interposed.
+
+"Never in me life have I see worse manners since me eyes had the
+misfortune to rest on them Dooleys down the tow-path. You're patterns
+in manners when you're asleep, but where do you keep your decency
+daytimes? Go to the shed and show yourselves to the water and soap,
+and don't be keeping me dinner waiting long, either."
+
+Bang, thump, splash, grunt, gurgle, constituted the sign audible of
+the little M'Cartys' cleansing. The hands and faces were polished, the
+comb hastily passed round, and in they trooped, this time more
+quietly, as if they had scrubbed off some of their boisterous
+spirits.
+
+Norah had found a bit of holly, with which she adorned the dish of
+baked apples, while Terence, with much effort, pulled from his pocket
+a package wrapped in pink paper and laid it with an important air on
+Granny's plate.
+
+"Merry Christmas, with a present for you, Granny," he said.
+
+"What's that you've been buying?" said Mrs. M'Carty, "and you with no
+money to buy nothing with."
+
+"I didn't buy it," said Terence.
+
+"I'll not have anythin' to do with stholen stuff, ye wicked craytur,"
+exclaimed Granny, pushing the offending package away from her.
+
+"I didn't steal it, neither," said Terence, proudly. "I leave such
+works for them Dooleys," and he held his head aloft and went over by
+his mother.
+
+"I believe you, Terence, my boy," said Mrs. M'Carty. "But wherever did
+you get it?"
+
+"He axed for it," interposed Katy. "We were that cold, and when we
+came to a drug-store, Terence, says he, 'Let's slip in and get warm
+and smell all them perfoomery and things.' And the drug-store man
+says, 'What does we be wanting,' and Terence says, 'We just came in to
+get warm, but we'd buy something if we had the money.' 'What would you
+buy?' said the man, and Terence says, 'Perfoomery for my mother, and
+stuff to cure Granny's roometiz.' 'Is that all ye want?' says the man;
+'then get your fingers warm and take these to your mother and Granny,
+with a merry Christmas.'"
+
+"And here's your perfoomery," cried Terence, handing a smaller pink
+package to his mother, who exclaimed over it with delight.
+
+"Sure, it's better than flowers, and far more lasting," she said,
+"and it's glad I am you brought it."
+
+"I can't read this writin' at all, at all. The sphellin' is too small
+for me eyes," said Granny, once more becoming the centre of interest.
+
+Mrs. M'Carty took the bottle and read aloud the directions.
+
+"And you're to take a teaspoonful after each meal," she concluded.
+
+"Humph!" snorted Granny. "An' does that drug-store man lay out to
+furnish me with the meals? I'd like to be told that now. Me that
+hasn't had a decint bit since ye let me poor Michael go off and get
+drownded in the cold wather."
+
+The clatter attendant on the seating of the children at the table
+prevented the latter part of Granny's speech from being heard. The
+smaller M'Cartys were placed either side of Grandad, the older ones
+being seated by Granny. The potatoes were transferred to the board,
+and Mrs. M'Carty, taking the little Ellen, sat down at the nominal
+foot of the table, opposite the empty place set in memory of her
+husband. For awhile naught was spoken save only the few occasional
+words necessary in asking for more food. Bridget sipped a little tea,
+but the sight of the vacant chair quite destroyed her appetite. She
+looked thin and care-worn, and very unlike the brave wife who with
+cheery words had sped her husband on his unlucky voyage.
+
+When the children's appetites were somewhat appeased, their tongues
+began to fly as they recounted the morning adventures,--the sights,
+the sounds, and all the little incidents which had gone to make up a
+happy morning.
+
+Finally Bridget rapped on the table for silence.
+
+"Whist again every last one of you while I make a request. Terence, me
+lad, slip over to the wood-box and bring whatever you find there.
+It's for your Grandad."
+
+Terence quickly obeyed, while the others looked on in eager
+expectance. He returned with a round package wrapped in tissue and
+lace-trimmed paper and set it before Grandad, who undid it with
+surprising alacrity.
+
+"May the saints presarve us!" he exclaimed. "If it isn't as fine a
+puddin' as my old eyes ever see in me life."
+
+"Me, me!" cried little Patsy, "me wants a puddin'."
+
+"Yes, me little Patsy," said Grandad, "ye shall have a bite as soon as
+my knife can cut it. There now, sit down, all of yez, till I have a
+chance at it,"--for the children were crowding about the old man to
+get a glimpse of the beautiful pudding. But before his knife had so
+much as touched it, Bridget interposed.
+
+"Hold a bit," she said. "Katy, darling, run to the shed and look
+under the wash-tub and bring the contents to Granny."
+
+Katy fairly flew to the shed and returned bearing aloft a package
+which in size, shape, and wrappings was identical with that which had
+just been set before Grandad. Granny opened it, displaying the mate to
+Grandad's pudding.
+
+"Whee, whee!" cried little Patsy. "Me wants it! Me wants it!"
+
+But Bridget was ready with a third order.
+
+"Norah, my jewel, you'll likely find something to your credit forninst
+the dishpan."
+
+Norah lifted the dishpan and in a trice pudding number three was
+standing beside its predecessors.
+
+"I'll bet yer, kids," said Terence, the ready spokesman, "there's a
+pudding for every last one of us. Let's get busy and hunt. Sure, I see
+something under the stove."
+
+Mrs. M'Carty let them hunt. They preferred this, and the fun ran high
+as one pudding after another was discovered. The house, though so
+small, held more hiding-places than one would have supposed, and it
+was some time before the last pudding consented to be found. Mrs.
+M'Carty allowed each one to cut his pudding and eat a generous
+portion. To more fastidious palates, cold plum pudding without sauce
+might have seemed a doubtful luxury, but to the little M'Cartys, who
+never before had tasted the dainty, the plum puddings were a veritable
+"feast of Lucullus." Baby Ellen was given a crumb or two, and she
+goo-ed, and gurgled, and smiled on them all as if she thought herself
+the cause of all this festivity.
+
+[Illustration: "MRS. M'CARTY LET THEM HUNT"]
+
+"Praise the blessid saints," said Grandad, "they didn't forget us
+this Christmas day, an' these are grand puddin's."
+
+"Grand indade," replied Granny. "If Bridget M'Carty had said her
+prayers proper-like, it's other things besides puddin's she would have
+asked the saints for, but she's that foolish, she can't keep two words
+in her head to once. When she thinks puddin's, she just thinks
+puddin's, an' not aven the sauce, bedad."
+
+"Annyhow, Granny, ye must say it was fine puddin's she did be
+thinkin'."
+
+"Av course they're fine, but there's nothin' but puddin's, an' I have
+to ate them or be stharvin', I expect," and Granny helped herself to
+the third piece and passed her cup to Bridget to be filled the fourth
+time.
+
+While the puddings were being eaten Mrs. M'Carty told the tale of the
+mysterious presents. So dramatic was her exposition of the twelve
+knocks that had been the precursors of the twelve puddings that when,
+as she finished, there came a loud and emphatic knock at the door,
+Grandad Rafferty, his mind on Bridget's story, ejaculated:
+
+"Another puddin'!"
+
+[Illustration: "'IT'S MY MICHAEL,--MY HEART OF THE WORLD'"]
+
+"Annuzzer puddin'!" lisped little Patsy.
+
+"May the saints forgit to sind us another puddin'!" said Granny
+M'Carty.
+
+Before any one had thought to open the door, it opened from without,
+and there stood, looking in at the group, a tall, haggard, weary man.
+
+"Holy Virgin save us, it's Michael's ghost!" cried Granny, covering
+her face with her hands.
+
+For a full minute the inmates of the shanty and the man at the door
+stared at each other. Then Mrs. M'Carty heard the one word:
+
+"Bridget!"
+
+It was enough. Quite forgetting little Ellen, who tumbled
+unceremoniously to the floor, Mrs. M'Carty sprang from her chair.
+
+"It's no ghost! It's no ghost!" she cried, sobbing and laughing. "It's
+my Michael,--my heart of the world,--my Michael,--come back from the
+dead," and she threw herself into his arms.
+
+Exclamations and explanations were now the order of the day. Mrs.
+M'Carty in her Christmas lavishness had used all of the tea, but she
+reheated the contents of the teapot and cut a slice of pudding for her
+husband, but Michael, established in his erstwhile empty place at the
+table, was too happy for either eating or drinking.
+
+The dinner lasted as long as did that of any of "swelldom's four
+hundred," for one cannot relate in a few moments the happenings of
+months, nor can so wonderful a gift as that of Katrina Baumgaertner be
+passed over with a few words.
+
+When the tale of the puddings was ended Michael, with a merry twinkle
+in his eye, said to Norah:
+
+"Norah, my jewel, be lookin' outside the door there, and see what you
+can be after findin'."
+
+Eight little M'Cartys ran to the door. A scramble, a noisy return, and
+down on the table descended the thirteenth pudding.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At dusk Granny M'Carty and Grandad Rafferty sat in their accustomed
+places by the fire. Baby Ellen was fast asleep in Grandad's arms. The
+children were out for a run in the fresh air, and Bridget and Michael
+were enjoying a few moments of happy converse together in the lean-to.
+
+Grandad rocked gently to and fro, nodding and smiling to himself as if
+his thoughts were very pleasant company. The sight of his cheerful
+face, dimly seen by the small lamp, was too much for Granny.
+
+"It's meself," she began, "as can sit here with never a soul to be
+shpakin' to me, an' ev'ry one of me bones and nerves achin' with the
+excitemint of this day; an' it's ye, Misther Rafferty, that can sit
+there grinnin' and noddin' like a crazy loon. It's them that has a
+fine consait of themselves that gets along in this world, I mind. An'
+look at them puddin's,--"
+
+"Puddin's? Puddin's?" said Grandad, rousing from his reverie and
+looking about as if he expected to see a second installment.
+
+"Yes, puddin's!" mimicked Granny. "What's to be done with the leavin's
+of them thirteen puddin's, the unlucky things?"
+
+"Mrs. M'Carty, don't be callin' them puddin's unlucky. Sure, 'twas the
+thirteenth puddin' that let Michael be findin' his lost family. Think
+no more of them. Remember yer Michael that couldn't sthay lost, an'
+it's because ye was so lucky to be namin' him afther the good saint.
+Saint Michael an' the old dragon, ye mind,--"
+
+"An' is it meself ye're afther callin' an old dragon?" almost screamed
+Granny.
+
+"Indade and indade, Mrs. M'Carty," began Grandad, regretting his
+unfortunate allusion to the dragon, and anxious to avert the impending
+tirade, "I'm not callin' ye an old dragon, at all, at all. It's--it's
+yer roometiz I mane. Yes, sure, it's that is the old dragon, an'
+Michael will fight it for yez, an' I know he'll conquer it entirely,
+just as sure as I know there was luck in them thirteen puddin's. An'
+Granny," he went on, growing still more Utopian in his predictions,
+"ye'll soon be walkin' 'round gay as a cricket, with never an ache or
+a pain to be throublin' yez."
+
+"Are ye sure of all that, Misther Rafferty?" asked Granny eagerly.
+Grandad had conjured up too blissful a vision for even her gloomy
+spirits to withstand.
+
+"Sure? Av course I'm sure!" answered Grandad promptly, and pounded his
+chair with emphasis. "It's as good as done this minit, an' there's
+such good times comin' for all of us, it's not aven the quane we'll be
+envyin'."
+
+Granny sat for a few moments in silence. Then she turned to Grandad.
+
+"An' did ye mind, Misther Rafferty," she said with a little
+brightness, "did ye mind, I say, that Michael had the gold ring on his
+finger?"
+
+"I did that," answered Grandad. "Me two eyes took sight of it as soon
+as ever he sthirred his hand, an' it was shinin' as bright as ever it
+was before he went an' got drownded. An' that's another sign of good
+times comin' for us. An' listen, Mrs. M'Carty, it's for yer Michael
+bein' ev'ry bit as good as gold himself, that them saints went to all
+the throuble of undrownding him an' bringin' him back to us that nades
+him."
+
+And for once Granny smilingly agreed.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Archaic syntax, dialect, and inconsistent spelling retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Misfit Christmas Puddings, by Club Consolation
+
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