Christmas Peace
That sweetly prophetic evening silence, before the great feast of Good-Will, does not come over everything each year, even in a lonely cottage on an abandoned farm in Connecticut, than which you cannot possibly imagine anything more silent or more remote from the noise of the world. Sometimes it rains in torrents just on that night, sometimes it blows a raging gale that twists the leafless birches and elms and hickory trees like dry grass and bends the dark firs and spruces as if they were feathers, and you can hardly be heard unless you shout, for the howling and screaming and whistling of the blast.
But now and then, once in four or five years perhaps, the feathery snow lies a foot deep, fresh-fallen, on the still country side and in the woods; and the waxing moon sheds her large light on all, and Nature holds her breath to wait for the happy day and tries to sleep, but cannot from sheer happiness and peace. Indoors, the fire is glowing on the wide hearth, a great bed of coals that will last all night and be enough, because it is not bitter weather, but only cold and clear and still, as it should be; or if there is only a poor stove, the iron door is open and a comfortable, cheery red light shines out from within upon the battered iron plate and the wooden floor beyond; and the older people sit around it, not saying much, and thinking with their hearts rather than with their heads; but small boys and girls know that interesting things have been happening in the kitchen all the afternoon, and are rather glad that the supper was not very good, because there will be more room for good things to-morrow; and the grown-ups and the children have made up any little differences of opinion they may have had before supper time, because Good-Will must reign, and reign alone, like Alexander; so that there is nothing at all to regret, and nothing hurts anybody any more, and they are all happy in just waiting for King Christmas to open the door softly and make them all great people in his kingdom. But if it is the right sort of house, he is already looking in through the window, to be sure that every one is all ready for him, and that nothing has been forgotten.
| The following pages contain advertisements of a |
| few of the Macmillan books for children |
THE CHILDREN’S PLEASURE BOOK SERIES
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF ART
By Miss A. E. Conway and Sir Martin Conway.
With 16 full-page illustrations in color from public and private galleries.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
An entertaining and attractive volume. The paintings reproduced have been chosen because of their undoubted appeal to young minds.
CHILD’S WORLD IN PICTURES
By Clotilde von Wyss.
With 32 full-page illustrations in color and 30 in black and white.
Dec. boards, 12mo, $.75 net; by mail $.85.
Story-like descriptions, illustrated by pictures of life in far-away and unknown lands, certain to appeal to a child’s vivid imagination.
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF STARS
By G. E. Mitton.
With 11 full-page illustrations in color and other illustrations.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
A capital introduction to astronomy written in a most pleasing manner for children’s comprehension and interest and well illustrated.
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF GARDENING
Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick and Mrs. Paynter.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Mrs. Cayley-Robinson.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
Tells the juvenile reader how to make his garden grow. It is written from a child’s point of view and supplies the information a child can use.
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF CELTIC STORIES
By Elizabeth W. Grierson.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Allan Stewart.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
A collection of stories, some of them strange and weird, but quite as fascinating as any of the better known fairy tales. They are retold in words as near the original as possible.
CHILDREN’S TALES FROM SCOTTISH BALLADS
By Elizabeth W. Grierson.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Allan Stewart.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
Seventeen of the most famous Scottish ballads retold in simple English for children.
CHILDREN’S TALES OF ENGLISH MINSTERS
By Elizabeth W. Grierson.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by various artists.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net; by mail, $2.15. Also separately: Canterbury, Durham, Ely, Lincoln, St. Albans, St. Paul’s, York. Each with a colored illustration, 50 cents net; by mail 55 cents.
Stories of saints, monarchs, statesmen and warriors connected with the founding of ten of the best known English cathedrals.
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF LONDON
By G. E. Mitton.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by John Williamson.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
“A book as thoroughly charming as it is variously instructive ... fitted to kindle in the imagination of a child a lively sense of what great London is, as also of what it has been.”—Chicago Tribune.
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF EDINBURGH
By Elizabeth W. Grierson.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Allan Stewart.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
In simple language Miss Grierson writes about the modern interests of the city.
THE BOOK OF THE RAILWAY
By G. E. Mitton.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Allan Stewart.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00; by mail $2.15.
There is nothing technical in it; it is written so clearly that a young child can understand it and yet grown up children will find a great deal that is entirely new to them.
THE ADVENTURES OF PUNCH
By Ascott R. Hope.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Stephen Baghot De La Bere.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
A book full of thrilling experiences and illustrated with lively color pictures. It will hold the attention of boy or girl from the first to the last word.
THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
By John Bunyan.
With 8 full-page illustrations in color by Gertrude D. Hammond.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
This great allegory illustrated with pictures which are remarkable for the manner in which they portray the spirit of Bunyan’s famous text.
WILLIAM TELL TOLD AGAIN
By P. G. Wodehouse.
With 16 full-page illustrations in color by Philip Dadd.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
Accompanying the prose story and supplementing the pictures are delightfully humorous verses revealing a lighter side to the story.
THE ADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE
By Miguel De Cervantes.
Translated and abridged by Dominick Daly.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Stephen Baghot De La Bere.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
A selection of the more interesting and amusing parts of Cervantes’ great composition.
THE KING WHO NEVER DIED
By Dorothy Senior.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $1.50.
BEASTS AND BIRDS
By Clotilde von Wyss.
With 55 illustrations, of which 31 are in color.
Dec. boards, 8vo, 75 cents net.
A nature book for boys and girls.
RED CAP ADVENTURES
By S. R. Crockett.
With 16 full-page illustrations in color by Allan Stewart.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $1.75.
A collection of nineteen stories founded upon Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe,” “Fortunes of Nigel,” “Quentin Durward,” and “The Pirate.”
RED CAP TALES
By S. R. Crockett.
With 16 full-page illustrations in color by Allan Stewart.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.20.
Here Mr. Crockett adapts “Waverley,” “Rob Roy,” “Guy Mannering,” and “The Antiquary” for the benefit of young readers.
ADVENTURES IN MANY LANDS NORTH AMERICA
By Ascott R. Hope.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by Henry Sandham.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $1.75
A collection of personal narratives of adventure, remarkable not only for their own interest, but because they represent notable phases of American life.
THE BULL OF THE KRAAL
By Dudley Kidd.
With 12 full-page illustrations in color by A. M. Goodall.
Dec. cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
A story of the exciting adventures of a delightful little Kafir Prince and a number of his small, black friends.
GOD’S LANTERN BEARERS
By Rev. R. C. Gillie.
With 32 full-page illustrations in black and white by John Sargent and others.
Dec. cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net; by mail $2.15.
A retelling of certain Bible stories in the language of children, each illustrated by photogravures of ideal portraits. The lantern bearers are holy men who, in each age, passed on the light of heavenly truth to those beyond them.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK