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By: Abbie Farwell Brown

The Christmas Angel by Abbie Farwell Brown The Christmas Angel

Disagreeable old Miss Terry spends her Christmas Eve getting rid of toys from her childhood toy box. One by one she tosses them onto the sidewalk in front of her house, then secretly watches the little scenes that occur, which seem to confirm her belief that true Christmas spirit does not exist. Then the Angel from her childhood Christmas tree appears to show Miss Terry that she has not yet witnessed the final act of each of those little dramas...Living Age magazine in 1910 observed of The Christmas...

By: Alice Hale Burnett

Book cover Christmas Holidays at Merryvale

“Toad” Brown, his brother, and their friends have a jolly time at the Christmas holidays. They daydream at a toyshop window, chop down a Christmas tree in the woods, have a grand snowball fight, and plan a surprise for a friend in this tale of early 20th-century small-town life. Published in 1916, this short book is perfect for younger readers and listeners. Read along and see the charming illustrations.

By: Anonymous

Book cover The Story of the White-Rock Cove

By: Arnold Bennett (1867-1931)

The Feast of St. Friend by Arnold Bennett The Feast of St. Friend

In The Feast of St. Friend, a Christmas book, Arnold Bennett shares his views on Christmas as the season of goodwill. As always, Bennett's writing includes some thought-provoking ideas liberally spiced with his wry sense of humour, and as always too, you can barely believe it was written so long ago. This was published exactly 100 years ago, in 1911. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)

By: Asa Don Dickinson (1876-1960)

The Children's Book of Christmas Stories by Asa Don Dickinson The Children's Book of Christmas Stories

Many librarians have felt the need and expressed the desire for a select collection of children's Christmas stories in one volume. This book claims to be just that and nothing more. Each of the stories has already won the approval of thousands of children, and each is fraught with the true Christmas spirit. It is hoped that the collection will prove equally acceptable to parents, teachers, and librarians.

By: Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens The Cricket on the Hearth

The tale of John Peerybingle, the good-hearted carrier, and his young wife Mary ('Dot'), interwoven with the story of poor toymaker Caleb Plummer, his beloved blind daughter Bertha, and the harsh old toy merchant Tackleton, who is due to marry May Fielding, a childhood friend of Dot. Comic relief is provided by Tilly Slowboy, the disaster-prone nursemaid of John and Dot's baby, and Boxer, the family dog.The cricket who chirps on the family hearth assumes fairy form to save the day when disaster looms in the form of a mysterious stranger...

The Seven Poor Travellers by Charles Dickens The Seven Poor Travellers

One of Dickens’ Christmas stories, this was first published as part of the Christmas number of Household Words for 1854. The first chapter relates Dickens’ visit to the ancient Richard Watts’s Charity at Rochester. The second chapter is the touching story of “Richard Doubledick”, which Dickens supposedly told the travellers, and Dickens’ journey home on Christmas morning provides the short concluding chapter.

The Chimes by Charles Dickens The Chimes

The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In is the second of Charles Dickens' Christmas books, published in 1844. Its contemporary setting is the "Hungry Forties", a time of social and political unrest, and the book has a strong moral message. It remained popular for many years, although its fame has since been eclipsed by that of A Christmas Carol, the first of the series. Our hero Toby ("Trotty") Veck is a poor but hard-working man, whose beloved daughter Meg is due to marry on New Year's Day...

By: Charles Lamb (1775-1834)

Book cover A Masque of Days From the Last Essays of Elia: Newly Dressed & Decorated

By: Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872-1958)

Peace On Earth, Good-Will To Dogs by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott Peace On Earth, Good-Will To Dogs

“If you don’t like Christmas stories, don’t read this one!And if you don’t like dogs I don’t know just what to advise you to do!For I warn you perfectly frankly that I am distinctly pro-dog and distinctly pro-Christmas, and would like to bring to this little story whatever whiff of fir-balsam I can cajole from the make-believe forest in my typewriter, and every glitter of tinsel, smudge of toy candle, crackle of wrapping paper, that my particular brand of brain and ink can conjure up on...

By: Emilie Maceroni (1813-1868)

Book cover Magic Words: A Tale for Christmas Time

Magic Words is a Victorian tale of a community and how a few women bring a special kind of Christmas magic to the community-- Magic that can heal wounded hearts. (Introduction by Sean McGaughey)

By: Florence Louisa Barclay (1862-1921)

The Upas Tree, A Christmas Story for all the Year by Florence Louisa Barclay The Upas Tree, A Christmas Story for all the Year

Ronald West has a brilliant idea for his next novel, but to do it right, he wants to spend the next six months tramping around central Africa to experience the setting first hand. His wife Helen fully supports his trip, but for the first time in their marriage, she refuses to go along herself. Ronnie is disappointed at her reticence, but plows ahead, planning to be back in England by Christmas. But when Ronnie returns, something is seriously the matter which threatens to make his reunion with Helen, and their Christmas together, anything but merry. (Introduction by MaryAnn)

By: Frances Jenkins Olcott (1872-1963)

Book cover Good Stories for Holidays

By: Henry van Dyke (1852-1933)

The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry van Dyke The Story of the Other Wise Man

You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they travelled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet did not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus? Of the great desire of this fourth pilgrim, and how it was denied, yet accomplished in the denial; of his many wanderings and the probations of his soul;...

By: Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927)

Told after Supper by Jerome K. Jerome Told after Supper

It is Christmas Eve, and the narrator, his uncle and sundry other local characters are sitting round the fire drinking copious quantities of whisky punch and telling ghost stories until bedtime, when… But no, I won’t spoil the fun. This is a little gem: Jerome at his tongue-in-cheek best.

By: John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922)

A Little Book Of Christmas by John Kendrick Bangs A Little Book Of Christmas

Summary: Four short Christmas stories, a bit sentimental, but still affecting and worthwhile. Plus Four Christmas verses. (Summary by David Wales)

By: John Leighton (1822-1912)

Book cover Christmas Comes but Once a Year

A Christmas tale of John Brown's ghastly family (suburban snobs), Captain Bonaventure de Camp and his equally awful brood (a dubious crew), and poor Soavo Spohf, organist of St. Stiff the Martyr, gifted in musical ability but not blessed in looks or love. No-one could call this a great work of literature, but it definitely raises a few chuckles and it also offers a fascinating glimpse into Christmas festivities and social mores in well-to-do households in the mid-19th century. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)

By: Kate Douglas Wiggin

The Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church by Kate Douglas Wiggin The Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church

A sweet, old fashioned Christmas romance set in an old New England meeting house.

By: Lily Munsell Ritchie

Book cover Chicken Little Jane

By: Mabell S. C. Smith (1864-1942)

Book cover Ethel Morton's Holidays

By: Margaret Elizabeth Munson Sangster (1838-1912)

Book cover Holiday Stories for Young People

By: Owen Wister (1860-1938)

A Journey in Search of Christmas by Owen Wister A Journey in Search of Christmas

Cowboy Lin McLean rides into frontier Cheyenne, Wyoming, at Christmastime and learns a powerful meaning of Christmas. Author Owen Wister is well known for his western writings, famously the novel The Virginian. Illustrations are by the western artist Frederic Remington.

By: Peter H. Ditchfield (1854-1930)

Book cover Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs

By: Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)

The Art of Travel by Sir Francis Galton The Art of Travel

The Art of Travel is a handbook of practical advice for the adventure seeking Victorian. We hear how to organize all steps of a voyage, from the very beginnings (qualifications of a traveller, how to organize an expedition, the perfect outfit), to the actual trip (how to choose a bivouac, huts and tents, what game to shoot - and how, dealing with (hostile) savages), until the final, hopefully successful, return of the traveller (arranging memoranda).

By: Thomas Nelson Page

Santa Claus's Partner by Thomas Nelson Page Santa Claus's Partner

Livingstone has reached a pinnacle in his life. He is finally worth 7 figures, yet his bottom line requires that he cut back on charities this year at Christmas time. Business is business, after all. But success makes him surly and his accomplishment soon feels anti-climatic. Regrets plague him. Can he rediscover the joy of life with the help of Santa Claus’s Partner?

By: Various

Christmas Carol Collection by Various Christmas Carol Collection

Though carols are traditionally associated with Christmas, this was not always the case. “Carol” comes from the French word 'carole' which means circle dance accompanied by singing. It was part of any festivity and gradually came to be associated with holidays like Christmas. In England, festivities were banned following the Civil War and Protestantism, but many song writers and Protestants wrote musical works to be sung at Christmas and these were referred to as “carols.” Today, Christmas anywhere in the world is incomplete without carol singers and songs...

By: William Dean Howells

Book cover Christmas Every Day and Other Stories Told for Children

Five short delightful stories for children, told in the voice of "the papa" to "the girl" and "the boy." William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. Nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters", he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day" and the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham. (Reader’s Note for story 3: A pony engine is a small locomotive for switching cars from one track to another.)

By: Zona Gale

Christmas, A Story by Zona Gale Christmas, A Story

This is a gentle Christmas story, whose message is that if we didn't already have Christmas, we'd find a way to invent it. It's hard times in Old Trail Town as the Season of Giving approaches. The factory that employs most of the town is closed and not likely to re-open, and town merchants fear that people will try to shop on credit. Unwilling to carry the debt, the merchants work out a scheme to get everybody in town to agree not to have Christmas that year. What happens next proves that Christmas can't be banned from the hearts of those who truly believe in it.


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