AMES T. BRADY. 
 
 
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 (t 
 
 \J -~ r-^ "^
 

 
 CHRISTMAS DREAM 
 
 JAMES T. BRADY. 
 
 I L L U 8 T R A TED B Y E P W A R T> S . H A I, L 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY P. A PPL ETON * CO., 
 
 433 AND 445 BROADWAY. 
 T. N I) ON: 1 LITTLE BRITAIN . 
 
 1861.
 
 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year I860, by 
 
 STEPHEN C. MASSETT. 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
 
 Mi;. STKPHKX C. MASSETT: 
 
 J/V />/ ar Stephen : 
 
 I dedicate to you this little volume. 
 
 The sketeli it contains was \vritten some fourteen years ago. when 
 you were a clerk in my office, and I did not suppose it would ever be 
 presented in a more durable form. But as you retained a copy, took 
 it with you on your various pilgrimages, and during- the Christmas 
 season read it to strangers even at the Antipodes, it seems to be 
 yours more than mine, and I thus bestow it upon you. Mr. EDWARD 
 S. HALL has made the book valuable by the admirable illustrations 
 with which he has adorned it. and there may be some who will pos 
 sibly derive gratification from having this frail memorial of him who. 
 with affection and esteem, subscribes himself 
 
 YOURS EVKJi. 
 
 JAMES T. BRADY. 
 XK\V YOKK. Murrli 2U. 1S(J(). 
 
 2052381
 
 Christmas $rram. 
 
 C II A P T E II I . 
 
 OT one cent." 
 
 " But please, sir, we haven t any bread at home/ 
 " Not one cent, I say begone !" 
 
 y> Yet it was Christinas Eve, and this sullen 
 denial proceeded from one well provided with
 
 A OHEISTM AS DUE AM. 
 
 the world s goods, toward a ragged and barefooted 
 girl, who, as she tramped over the cold pavement, 
 held out to the stony-hearted man a thin and tremu 
 lous hand. 
 
 Yes ! It was Christmas Eve, the anniversary of that 
 holy hour when we are taught that He was born, 
 who, turning aside from the great and the wealthy, 
 
 O O / / 
 
 sought the abodes of the humble, and achieved his 
 most divine labors for man in relieving the loathsome 
 and degraded. 
 
 It was Christmas Eve, and the heart of a girl which 
 could have been made happy by the meanest coin 
 that ever oppresses the rags of a beggar, was by a 
 cold denial of the pitiful boon, sent cheerless out upon 
 the wide sea of selfishness, where if it should break 
 in agony, the event would no more attract the notice 
 of the multitude amidst Avhich it happened, than the 
 burstino- of a bubble would disturb the ocean. 
 
 O 
 
 It was Christmas Eve, and the streets were crowded 
 with happy people, who thronged about the varioiis shops 
 to provide a jolly dinner for the morrow, or to purchase 
 presents for young folks who were destined to dream all
 
 A" ( II R1STMAS DREAM. 
 iii" % lit of treasures, more valuable and vast than those 
 
 o 
 
 which were displayed at the magic mention of " Open 
 Sesame." Where the toys glittered in profusion, the boys 
 were gathered at the door, wondering at the prices of 
 what they were never to obtain, and gratifying their spirits 
 by wishes that were never to be realized. In the windows 
 of confectioners shops, were exhibited the luscious and 
 captivating preparations which were very likely soon 
 to occasion busy employment for the family physician. 
 Past all these the wretched girl wandered disconsolately, 
 wearying herself still with the inquiry why others 
 should be so blessed with all the means of pleasure, 
 while she, in the prime of her life, knew little but 
 sorrow and want. She had not yet become acquainted 
 with Adam Smith s Wealth of Nations, nor investigated 
 a report by the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 I had no time to pursue the person or fortunes of the 
 girl. She disappeared suddenly in the tide of human 
 beings that swept on in sullen monotony, even like the 
 river which in its way to the ocean pauses not, whether 
 the flower, the ripe fruit, the decayed tree, or the being 
 full of life, fall on its rapid waters. My attention was 
 
 (2) 9
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 arrested by the haggard features of a miserable chiffonnier, 
 who, with a sack over his shoulder, and a hook in his 
 hand, was journeying homeward after a day s vile labor 
 in searching the kennels of the metropolis. A fur cap 
 drawn far down to his eyes, left exposed a sharp brow, 
 under which w r ere hidden cavernous eyes that seemed 
 to shrink from the foul work to which they were sub 
 jected. One would have thought while gazing on his 
 
 sunken cheeks, stern mouth, and projecting chin, that no 
 smile had even, for one instant, lighted his sombre coun- 
 
 10
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 tenanee. And yet who knows that he had not a hopeful 
 and a happy youth in the " pleasant land of France," or 
 the romantic home of the Switzer? It was hard to 
 believe that the morose and melancholy wretch had ever 
 been a child, and nestled in the arms of a devoted mother, 
 while her fond eye shone upon his sweet slumber, like the 
 evening star upon the dusky earth. But so it had been, 
 no doubt, and possibly there were many who came at his 
 birth to congratulate proud parents ; hopes for a family s 
 honor had perhaps grown strong as he progressed toward 
 boyhood ; he had haply been confided by a dying mother 
 to the care of a merciful heaven, and sent out upon the 
 world to seek his fortune, with the cheering encourage- 
 
 O O 
 
 ment of interested friends. To think that the child, 
 which, fresh from Heaven, would have received the 
 blessing of the Redeemer, if it had lived in the period of 
 his benevolent mission, should thus be converted into a 
 begrimed and wrinkled wretch, obtaining the means of 
 existence from the very refuse of poverty ! 
 
 "The world has more justice than we believe," re 
 marked at this moment a gentleman passing me, to the 
 
 friend at his side ; and I knew from the speaker s look 
 
 11
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 and manner that the way of his life had been one of ease 
 and success, and that he knew no more of the fierce pas 
 sions and dreadful wrongs that often convulse men s 
 
 O 
 
 frames, than the little rivulet, making its way century 
 after century through the solemn stillness of a primeval 
 forest, knows of the tempests that sweep the ocean in the 
 wildest nights. 
 
 A carriage passed me the high-mettled horses at 
 tached to which were controlled in their graceful and 
 spirited movements by a pompons coachman, who held 
 
 the reins delicately on the fingers of his white gloves, 
 while behind, a footman in lace and frippery looked over
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 the top of the vehicle as if in constant expectation that 
 an acquaintance would come flying over the heads of the 
 horses. Inside was the same churl who had refused the 
 girl one copper, and it was plain that he had forgotten 
 forever, except, perhaps, as the theme of an inflated dis 
 course about " increasing pauperism," what I could not 
 but remember as a striking illustration of those dispari 
 ties which, while they must ever exist in life, can never 
 fail to excite the regrets of all who wish that there could 
 
 o 
 
 be less of suffering on earth, and more of real pleasure. 
 
 A terrible shriek arose from the pavement, and I saw 
 the wheel of the churl s carriage pass over the leg of an 
 unfortunate girl. The carriage stopped for a moment. 
 The driver coolly inquired if any body were hurt ; the 
 crowd who had immediately assembled, told him to drive 
 on, and I pushed toward the injured girl, just in time to 
 see that it was she w T ho had but a few minutes before 
 elicited my sympathies, and that the coarse man who was 
 holding her in his arms, and exclaiming in French, " My 
 daughter," " My poor daughter," was the scavenger whose 
 dismal face I had just encountered. 
 
 Even at the moment when the poor girl was borne into 
 
 13
 
 A CHRISTMAS DKEAM 
 
 a druggist s shop, and while the crowd stood gazing in, a 
 boy racing past exclaimed, as if the world depended on 
 his hm^s : 
 
 O 
 
 " I wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New 
 Year." 
 
 The crowd melted away from the apothecary s door, 
 the shuffle of the multitude went on in its old monotony, 
 the curses and shouts of omnibus drivers were heard 
 above the clatter of myriad wheels rattling over the 
 cobble stones, and I wended my way homeward, resolved 
 that I would on the morrow search for the unfortunate 
 girl, and see what might be done to relieve her. But the 
 sounds of music issuing from a fashionable restaurant 
 attracted my attention, and I went in. 
 
 We all know what a restaurant is in New York now ; 
 with what elegance and costliness, if not taste, most 
 spacious "salom a manger 1 have been arranged, where 
 mirrors and polished white columns ornamented with 
 gold, and gay curtains with glittering loops, and cush 
 ioned seats, invite to Apician suppers, with which the 
 most fastidious palate must be gratified. 
 
 I hid myself in one of the boxes, and modestly ordered 
 
 14
 
 A ( II RISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 some ale and a cigar, resolved to let the music which had 
 lured me from my homeward path, harmonize with the 
 thoughts which arose out of the strange episode in my 
 life which had occurred from the accident to the girl, and 
 the circumstances which preceded it. 
 
 Well, it has ever been so, and it must be so until the 
 end of time. Poets and orators have complained that 
 suffering too often attends the lives of those who, de 
 prived of the means to make woe endurable, linger through 
 a painful existence to a wretched end. And this should 
 stimulate the faith and the hope of the skeptic in his 
 heaviest and most cheerless despondency. It cannot be 
 that the Almighty will not, at some time, and in his 
 own inscrutable manner, equalize the disparities at which 
 in this life we revolt. His omniscience which, seeing; 
 
 o 
 
 through all the disguises of a corrupt nature, beholds the 
 lecher in the priest, and the virgin spirit in the unfortu 
 nate harlot ; he who knows how favorably the conscience 
 that has yielded to strong temptations compares with that 
 which never felt the necessity of resisting one dishonest 
 impulse ; he who beholds the injustice by which trembling 
 innocence suffers at the bar where bloated arrogance pre- 
 15
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 sides ; lie who lias Ms quick ear ready to catch the dying 
 murmur of the poor outcast, reluctant even in the last 
 agony to let the world that has, rejected him know how 
 he feels its tyranny ; he, in short, who knows the truth 
 and the risrht, and can exhume them though centuries of 
 
 O / O 
 
 falsehood and wrong be piled above, has some great 
 temple ready, where, under his own infallible guidance 
 that which was unjust on earth shall be remedied, and 
 those who suffered injustice shall be redressed. 
 
 All this while the four musicians performed a sweet 
 German melody, full of home and its associations, 
 a touching strain which convinced me that music de- 
 
 O 
 
 rives its power from harmonizing with those unuttered 
 thoughts of our deepest nature for which mere language 
 is inadequate. Yes ! And it is but just there should be 
 a heaven in which those silent and unrevealed aspirations 
 of the spirit which can never be satisfied here, and at 
 which the world scoff, may find the pleasure for which 
 they long. 
 
 The ale was heavy withal, and my eyes drooped under 
 its unpoetical influence, so I left the lights, the Germans, 
 and the music, and would have made my way homeward, 
 
 16
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 liad I not been arrested at the door-step by a withered 
 old man, very like the poor scavenger, but a little more 
 neatly attired, who had a sack over his shoulder, and 
 seemed hurried for time. As he expressed a wish to 
 have some conversation with me, we passed back to the 
 seat I had just left, and amidst the music, the clatter, and 
 the smoke, took seats, and commenced gazing at each 
 other with silent but absorbing interest.
 
 CIIAPTEli II. 
 
 )Y vis a vi-s- was decidedly a strange character. It 
 was difficult to detect the exact expression of 
 his countenance, for it varied continually. Lay 
 ing upon the table the sack I have mentioned, 
 and opening it, he proceeded, with a very grave 
 air, to produce a number of volumes, and arrange them 
 with studious care. 
 
 " You will be surprised, sir," he remarked, " when I 
 tell you who I am." 
 
 " Nothing can astonish me much in these days of mag 
 netic telegraphs." 
 
 " But this is probably," said he, " the first time that 
 you have had actual conversation with one who does not 
 belong to this world, and is merely an agent of an absent 
 monarch, to collect for him the trophies which increase 
 with each succeeding moment." 
 
 I began to think my companion a madman, and the 
 
 conviction was strengthened when he proceeded to say- 
 is
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 " Yes ! That monarch is the Past ; an unrelenting 
 and unyielding tyrant, who never returns the lightest 
 trifle that ever conies within his grasp." 
 
 " And you," I remarked, " appear to be his confidential, 
 clerk, or travelling agent." 
 
 "It is my duty," said the mysterious stranger, "to 
 collect, during the brief period assigned for my labor, 
 such mementos of his power as this earth may afford 
 and when I shall have laid them at his feet, I, too, will 
 become one of his victims and his monuments, and be 
 denied the privilege of ever visiting this earth again." 
 
 " And what is your name ?" I inquired. 
 
 " Alas !" exclaimed the stranger, " I am the Passing 
 Year, and although visible to you at this moment, have 
 usually neither a local habitation nor a name amongst 
 mankind. I perceive that you are on the border line of 
 life that boundary between manhood and old age, at 
 which the affections and feelings linger, the mind still 
 looking backward to the scenes in which it knew the 
 sweetest delights, while the flesh, growing weaker at 
 every step, journeys toward eternity. In these volumes 
 
 I have the record of what man has achieved during the 
 
 19
 
 A (MI RfSTMA S DREAM, 
 time of my pilgrimage of the wrongs and virtues that 
 
 i/ JL O O O 
 
 have disfigured or adorned his career. It is a strange 
 history of hopes that are blighted, friendships estranged, 
 promises violated, faith disregarded, right trodden in the 
 dust, wrong elevated to the highest places, merit spurned 
 by the foot of presumption, and Virtue checked, and in 
 sulted by Vice in her flagrant and infamous career. Ob 
 
 serve the comparative size of these volumes. Here," 
 holding up a book not larger than a child s primer, " is 
 the record of virtuous resolutions kept. What huge 
 quarto enrolls those that were violated ? The bad pre- 
 20
 
 A CHRISTMAS I) UK AM. 
 
 ponderate* over the good through all these volumes in 
 the same proportion. Ah, sir ! mine has been an un 
 pleasant duty. I was ushered into office amidst the wild 
 shouts of the multitude hailing my approach, as if I were 
 to bless them all with a profusion of Heaven s choicest 
 gifts. Alas ! many who shouted deliriously at my advent, 
 are now low in the dust, and have been compelled to 
 look on powerless, while death laid his icy hand upon 
 some of the most generous hearts that ever thrilled within 
 mortal bosom. 
 
 " I could tell you of one who seemed born to show how 
 much that was immortal and noble could dwell within 
 the precincts of a human frame. From childhood s ear 
 liest prime, to the moment when, far from friends and 
 kindred, he breathed out his spirit to Heaven, there was 
 no time when he stood in the path of any fellow-creature, 
 or when there existed one wretch to whom his departure 
 could afford a thrill of fiendish satisfaction. His heart 
 was open to generous influences, as his countenance to 
 the benign expressions which, beaming from every fea 
 ture, cheered his troops of friends. There was no impulse 
 of his soul, no word on his lip, no pressure in his hand,
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 that had ever felt the influence of hypocrisy,. and in the 
 prime of his manhood you might read his nature as easily 
 as that of a child. Having nothing to conceal, he won 
 dered that men were surprised at the frankness which 
 was part of his nature : and he could not understand 
 why, in association with his fellows, there could be a 
 feeling called reserve. There were many, very many 
 places where, without his ever knowing of his impor 
 tance, the appearance of this benevolent and kindly being 
 was hailed as the sufferer hails the ruddy dawn ; and 
 when he was striving to cheer the heavy hours of those 
 
 O / 
 
 who seemed to need his sympathy, how many hearts 
 were eager to yield him the same solace ! Full of boy 
 ish innocence, he yet plumed himself upon the ripe 
 experience and practical wisdom of the ma.n, assuming 
 for the while, to give himself the weight that age and 
 trial demand, an appearance of austerity which could 
 but for a moment abide upon him, and which only 
 served to amuse, like a grotesque mask concealing the 
 features of a smiling face. In all that was generous, 
 unselfish, and w T arm-hearted, he was, to most of his fel 
 lows, the wonder as well as idol ; and there lives not 
 
 22
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 one being who ever sought the influence of his kindly 
 spirit, and went away dissatisfied. Men wondered that 
 he did not yearn for fame ; and yet, detecting himself in 
 such a desire, he would have banished the thought at 
 
 O 
 
 once, as involving a wish to elevate himself above those 
 whom he loved. He would rather have the thanks of a 
 beggar than the throne of Caesar. But he has gone down 
 into the grave, even when his friends strained the eyelids 
 of their hearts for his coming and delighted in the expec- 
 
 tation that they must soon behold one who never grasped 
 the hand of his fellow from any but a brother s feeling.
 
 A CHRISTMAS DUE AM. 
 
 He has gone, from no more apparent necessity than dies 
 the bird which, during the sunny season, poured out its 
 melodious song from the leafy spray, and has since uttered 
 its last note in the wild-wood. He has gone, and all who 
 knew him regret his departure, and feel that it is a greater 
 trial to remain here, now that he is no more, than even 
 to venture on the unknown world in quest of him, and 
 the hearty greeting he knew how to give. If you ever 
 feel a doubt that the beautiful and good exist hereafter, 
 think of such a character as I have here described, and ask 
 yourself if there can be one reason why such a being, hav 
 ing existed, should ever utterly perish. But I weary you 
 with these saddening thoughts. It is Christmas Eve. 
 Come forth with me into the air, and I will reveal to you 
 what no mortal eye hath seen before. I will show you, 
 in vour own history, how is connected by a mysterious 
 influence the Christmas of the present with the Christmas 
 of the past."
 
 CIIAPTEK III. 
 
 K is an elm-tree in the Park, near Chatham 
 street, which, in the " golden prime" of my boy- 
 ^-r^ hood, was the rendezvous at which, after school 
 
 V 7 
 
 hours and during holidays, we so often assem 
 bled, thence to set out on many a cheerful adven 
 ture in (jiiest of fun. The merry group which clustered 
 there so often, comes to my memory with the same dis 
 tinctness as if by some maoic influence I were carried 
 
 / o 
 
 backward over the intervening period to those happy 
 school-boy days once more. I well remember that glori 
 ous period, during which, unlike almost all my com 
 panions, I did not lose the enjoyment of present happiness 
 in the strange ambition to be a man. All my wants 
 were then provided for by those whom it has been my 
 lot to see laid in the dust. Oh ! how at the hour when 
 school was " dismissed" w e scampered off as wild caprice 
 suggested, making the street resound with jocund shouts, 
 and engaging in the various sports which youth so inge- 
 
 (4) 25
 
 A ( II RISTMAS J)REA M. 
 
 niously devises. There was an ogre, too, in those days 
 the keeper of the park a mild and worthy man in his 
 ordinary mood, no doubt, "but with a nose that blushed 
 scarlet over the transgressions of his lips. We gave him 
 the title of " Rum-nose," which, perhaps, was more just 
 than elegant, and it was our great delight to annoy the 
 poor fellow, leading him into useless chases up and down 
 the steps of the City Hall, and through its entries, over 
 its vestibule, and even into the court-rooms, where jus 
 tice is said to be administered. Christmas Eve was a 
 great time then, and was seen from afar. We commenced 
 discussing its advent, and the delights it would brinsr, 
 
 O O ^ / 
 
 from the last holiday that preceded it ; and even now, 
 when in the maturity of life we find Christmas at hand, 
 and feel no excitement of preparation, we wonder why 
 we miss the feverish expectation with which it was once 
 awaited, forgetting how few cares we had then to disturb 
 the darling anticipation of the heart. How delightful 
 then became the home from which we had so often stolen 
 out at nights in defiance of parental authority, and to the 
 imminent danger of our persons! There was such a 
 " busy note of preparation" about the house, such mys-
 
 A (MI IMSTM AS DRK A M. 
 
 terions deposits of turkeys and quarters of mutton in the 
 hall, such strange developments of baskets, only equalled 
 by the banquets that come from the earth in pantomime , 
 and such a profusion of fruit and confections actually left 
 within our reach without even a prohibition to touch 
 them. Who can even forget the smell of his Christmas 
 home ? 
 
 " There is the Christmas table of your youth," said my 
 companion; and lo ! I had become a boy again. The 
 dinner table was surrounded by the family once more. 
 There was not even one absent. He "by whose kind, 
 paternal side" we grew toward manhood, occupied the 
 head of the table, his hair slightly dashed with gray, his 
 face radiant with a cheerful smile, and his proud glance 
 directed around the abundant board to those on whom 
 his hopes and pride now centre;!. And there was, too, 
 my mother she of whom the recollection, now that she 
 has been some years " laid in her narrow place of rest," 
 is like a mingled sense of pleasure and duty, each ever 
 present, and each in turn growing stronger than its kin 
 dred feeling she to whom, in my earliest sufferings, I 
 breathed my secret complaints with the sublime con- 
 
 27
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 .fidence that they were as safe as they could l>e in 
 Heaven she whose ready ear caught up every syllable 
 in which I told of any wrong her son had suffered, or 
 honor he had attained, however evanescent she, whose 
 large heart, peopled l>y her children, seemed yet capa 
 cious enough to nurture all the afflicted of the human 
 
 O 
 
 28
 
 A (JURIS T M A S 1) R E A M . 
 
 race she, whose face now, in the greatest anguish of 
 manhood, comes like an angel from God to my spiritual 
 sense, and whispers, in language which the soul only can 
 hear, that there will be a season of relief and of happi 
 ness she, the dearly beloved idol of my whole nature, 
 whose hand still seems to have smoothed my pillow 
 when I lie down for rest on earth, whose presence shall 
 be felt in each thrill of my latest breathings at the 
 solemn hour of death, and who I know will be the first 
 to meet me, if we be restored to each other by the 
 benign mercy of a benevolent God. 
 
 There, too, about that table, were all my brothers and 
 sisters. All were in perfect health, and all happy. Such 
 eating, drinking, laughing, sin<niio;, and after the dinner, 
 
 O O O O O O/ / 
 
 such dancing, tumbling, and playing at Blindman s Buff! 
 The scene went swimming before me, and in an instant 
 the whole of a past life was disclosed. 
 
 " The Christmas of manhood," said my companion. 
 
 The same table, with no diminished store of what may 
 yield the body pleasure, but, oh ! how much narrowed 
 the happy circle which once gathered there at the happy 
 Christmas season ! He was gone, the pillar and the prop
 
 A II II I S T M A S 1) R E A M . 
 
 of all; gone in the maturity of life, "but before the frosts 
 of age had been laid too deep on the generous impulses 
 that burned in his magnanimous nature. She, too, had 
 departed, at whose decease it seemed so unwise that any 
 should be permitted to remain, and in the absence of 
 whom the rose seemed to have lost its fragrance, and the 
 very stars their glory. A sister, too, whose graceful form 
 moved like a thino; of lio;ht and pleasure through the 
 
 O O -1- O 
 
 household, gladdening wherever it came her chair also 
 was vacant. And now that I observe more closely, I 
 
 / / 
 
 miss the face of him whose features seemed to flash from 
 them in combined light all of good and pleasant that 
 existed in all the family beside. Death, alas ! had 
 " stepped in and thinned that little band," and the mem 
 bers of the circle, once so extended, now drew closer and 
 closer together, because of the breaches that had been 
 made in their ranks, to sustain each other, until, at the 
 command of him who gives and takes away, the last link 
 of the chain shall, I trust, be reunited with that from which 
 it was wrested when the first of our dear ones perished- 
 " My time is drawing near to its close," said the Pass 
 ing Year, "and I have but one more scene to show you." 
 
 30
 
 A (MI II 1ST MAS DREAM. 
 
 There was the parlor of our home. The fire, that I 
 had expected to see burning cheerfully when I returned, 
 had a dim look, and, strange to say, four figures sat 
 around it holding correspondence with each other, with 
 looks that indicated conversation, but were unattended 
 with any sounds. How can I describe the pleasure that 
 pervaded each pulse of my frame, when I recognized the 
 dear departed members of our family enjoying, as they 
 were wont to do in life, the comforts of that home which 
 their presence had so often made hap])} ! How ecstatic 
 would my joy have been could I have embraced them 
 all ; but the hand of my attendant was laid upon me, 
 and I could but gaze upon my heavenly visitors, rapt 
 in wonder and delight. 
 
 " They Lave been waiting for you to come home," said 
 he ; "and will not quit the house until you are secure in 
 slumber. Look !" 
 
 I gazed with astonishment while my dear lost ones 
 ascended to the rooms where our family repose, and saw 
 each of them stoop over those who were sleeping, to kiss 
 the slumberer s cheek. Then all stood around the bed 
 and elevated their eyes with their prayers to our Maker.
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 Then they returned to the fire, and seated themselves 
 once more, and there came back to my delighted spirit 
 such a sensitive recollection of all they had done for 
 me, and of what I had omitted that misrht have made 
 
 / O 
 
 their lives more happy, that I could have fallen on my 
 knees before them and besought the forgiveness of each. 
 But I was restrained by my companion ; and it was not 
 until I had laid myself down to rest for the night that 
 the beloved faces visited my couch also, and lingered 
 over my pillow with looks of undying love. Then I 
 heard the prayers for my prosperity, mingled with 
 sounds of sweetest melody, which seemed to combine 
 expression of all the memories that followed my steps 
 from childhood to the present hour. 
 
 The benign faces of the dear ones disappeared, but my 
 old companion stood beside my bed and, laying his hand 
 upon mine, said, in a voice whose every tone still lingers 
 in my memory : 
 
 " You have seen to-night the appeal of suffering 
 spurned by the heartlessness of bloated avarice. You 
 have seen what would be the rank injustice of a world 
 controlled by blind chance, where, if the afflicted child
 
 A C 1 1 It i IS T M AS D It E A M . 
 
 were crushed beneath the wheel of the miser, there could 
 be no redress for the one, nor punishment for the other. 
 
 "You have been assured by visions that those whom 
 you loved above all others on earth, still follow, and are 
 with you, and watch over you when slumber is sweetest. 
 These have not been the visions of a waking sense, but 
 mysterious revelations from your heart, teaching the sub 
 lime lesson that the influence which any beloved object 
 once gained over your nature will survive the decease of 
 the object itself; and if you do but cherish it a little, 
 will be as a fragrance shed upon your soul to make it 
 pure forever. Wake on the morrow, and conduct your 
 life as if it had been disclosed to you that they whose 
 good opinion you so respected while they lived, are still 
 near to the dear ones whom they nurtured, and for 
 whose prosperity they were ready even to lay down life. 
 The ancients had their household gods the work of 
 mortal hands, and only sanctioned by the sincerity of 
 superstition while you, through the blessing of Heaven, 
 enjoy the omnipresent care of the great Creator, and have, 
 as gods of the household, the memories of departed 
 loved ones, to be reunited with whom should be the
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 aim and end of your whole existence. Ponder this well, 
 and feel the solemn truth which it was my mission to 
 disclose, that in the midst of happiest life, and when the 
 thoughts of death are furthest from your heart, there 
 
 O */ 
 
 may be, close beside you, eager with care lest you should 
 by some false step be lost from the path that may lead 
 you to their arms, those for whose presence in another 
 world you should pray most fervently to your Maker." 
 
 I know not how my mysterious visitor departed, nor 
 where. But he made my Christmas more cheerful than 
 it would have been but for his teachings. I communi 
 cate the lesson he imparted to me, with the hope that 
 even with as much pleasure as descends upon one ray of 
 sunshine into the prisoner s cell, it may fall on the heart 
 of those who have recently suffered a domestic affliction. 
 There must be many who at this festive season will be 
 compelled to steal away from the pleasures of general 
 hospitality, and who will spend the hours, that were in 
 happier times devoted to heartfelt pleasure, in the society 
 of the dead and not of the living. To these even my 
 words may be like the rain-drops on the parched earth, 
 
 and I would say to them that it may, perhaps, occasion 
 
 34
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 anguish to those they love and have lost, to see them in- 
 dulrmio; sorrow that is useless, although grateful, and 
 
 O O / O O 
 
 that they should rather spend in mild pleasure the hours 
 of that holiest season when He came to bless the earth, 
 through whom we are taught that the dead and the living 
 may meet and lie happy again. 
 
 Eighteen hundred and sixty ! And lo ! the Christmas 
 time again returns. Fifteen eventful years have passed 
 away since I cast thee frail offering upon the waters 
 of literature, little dreaming that thou would st come back 
 to me, even " after many days." But it is the season 
 when many a wanderer revisits home, and why should st 
 not thou cease to be a truant ? Welcome, slender " birth 
 of my thought " memorial of the by-gone days with 
 which so many cheerful and saddening associations are 
 now connected. Industry and art have sent thee to me 
 in guise more attractive far than that in which thou first 
 went forth, and I behold the beauty of thy dress with 
 pleasure. Let me fold this new garment of affectionate
 
 A CHKISTMAS DEEAM. 
 
 words about thee, and prepare thee once more for a jour 
 ney into the wide, wide world. 
 
 It lias l>ee:i said that after thirty, we make no new 
 friends. Few have failed to verify, in their experience, 
 the general truth of the aphorism. And it may be an 
 illustration of this truth, that even in journeying toward 
 the fortieth year of existence, we advance often with 
 eyes cast backward, lingering with affectionate constancy 
 amidst the acquaintances and incidents of our prime. A 
 lock of hair, a ring, a word penned by some beloved hand 
 the merest trifle, casually encountered, may recall the 
 hour when it first came to our touch. We fondle in mem 
 ory over the memorial sometimes with tearful hearts. 
 And why may not this little book call up some tribute 
 from my sensibilities, when I behold in it the record of 
 that era when not one touch of frost had assailed my 
 brow, nor experience yet instructed me to distrust the 
 whispers of Hope or the promises of Ambition ? 
 
 Fifteen eventful years ! terminating at the period when 
 the onward march of life is inevitably and rapidly toward 
 indifference, infirmity, and death ! The hours now flit 
 away as instants, the seasons chase each other with rapid 
 
 30
 
 A CHEISTMAS DEEAM. 
 
 feet, and the years grow shorter and shorter. We who 
 feel these truths let us look back over the interval I 
 have mentioned. The children, in whose sweet prattle we 
 once delighted, have long since forgotten that imperfect 
 speech which surpasses perfect elocution, and have grown to 
 glib maturity. Ella no longer sits on our lap and hears our 
 stories of the nursery, or the Fairy realms. She was then 
 
 " Pure as the hues within the flower, 
 To summer and the sun unknown." 
 
 Even so pure is the darling now, but the world has 
 touched her nature, and the resistless current of fashion 
 drawn her within its flow. She is the beloved of some 
 gallant gentleman, no doubt, who will monopolize all the 
 sweet favors which her young lips were wont to lavish on 
 many cherishing admirers. Ben, who was so formidable 
 on his cane, which he bestrode as if it were a Bucephalus, 
 to charge, like Coeur de Lion, castles made of chairs, in 
 which imaginary ogres imprisoned lovely virgins Ben 
 swells the ranks of " Young America," knows the flavor 
 of every vintage the reputation of every cuisine ; is elo 
 quent upon Chateau Margaux and " Figaros ;" discourses 
 politics, science, and art ; is didactic at times about " hu-
 
 A CHKISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 man nature ; " and when the dance goes on, performs in a 
 minute more revolutions than were ever thought of on the 
 
 O 
 
 continent. Our contemporaries they who a few years 
 since showed glossy locks of all hues but silver how 
 grizzly and dry they appear these cool mornings. We 
 begin to doubt whether it is safe to associate with the old 
 fellows. But are they all here to-day ? Alas ! where is 
 he with whom so often in athletic exercise I sought the 
 
 o 
 
 rest and recreation most welcome after hours of toil, and 
 in whose company so many of the smaller hours were 
 passed, mingling revelry, I fear, with strange and versatile 
 discourse ? Where he with w T hom I first sought the shores 
 
 o 
 
 of the Old World, grateful that we might tread together 
 the " pleasant land of France," the vine-clad fields of Italy, 
 the green sward of the British Islands, in hours that seem 
 covered all over with the garlands of memory ? Where 
 he who, full of even audacious energy, was my associate 
 or my opponent in those struggles from which fame was 
 anticipated, if not won, and whose active brain and form 
 challenged alike the admiration of foe or friend ? The 
 premature grave and the unrelenting sea must give the 
 sad responses to my call. Alas ! how I shudder when
 
 A CHRISTMAS DKEAM. 
 
 the past discloses to my mind s eye those, too, who, failing 
 to achieve any part of the triumphs for which they had 
 every endowment, went down so ignobly in the " battle 
 of life," leaving Charity to be the kindest and best 
 guardian of their memory. Alas ! too how many have 
 departed full of the honors which it might seem just that 
 they should enjoy forever, even in mortal existence ; they 
 whose old age was not less beautiful than their youth, 
 and " eveiy wrinkle on whose brows was but a notch in 
 the calendar of a well-spent life." 
 
 Yet who shall repine at these, the common results of 
 our sublunary drama these many parts and dooms ex 
 hibited in the great theatre of humanity ? Why repeat 
 so tediously the lamentations which, in every tongue, and 
 far more eloquent phrase than mine, have been uttered 
 ever since man s voice was heard on earth ? Did I not 
 say that the Christmas time returns ? Here is the jocund 
 season ; the evergreens are gathered to deck the halls of 
 hospitable homes ; the members of families, separated for 
 months or years, are once more to assemble around the 
 familiar hearth-stones ; the banquet and the music are 
 being prepared ; the flowers are already wreathed ; the
 
 A CHRISTMAS DKEAM. 
 
 memories awakened ; the ears and hearts attuned to 
 symphonies ; and while the lights gleam, and the strains 
 of melody mingle in the brilliant atmosphere with de 
 licious perfume, the laugh of age shall unite with that of 
 childhood, the feast shall be ample, the jest swift, the 
 dance nimbler than ever, and the hours go round with 
 only lustre on their wings. Go to ! Let us leave off this 
 useless sorrowing. What though the past exhibits a path 
 tracked with the tombs of beloved ones whose hearts, 
 that once throbbed in unison with ours, have long since 
 mouldered? What though the circle of friends from 
 which so much of illumination radiated upon our souls, 
 grows narrower, and we doubt whether, when the next 
 of its links is broken, we shall share or occasion the sor 
 row of survivors ? Yet should we be of good cheer, and 
 snatch from passing Time whatever innocent grace or 
 pleasure he places within our grasp. We are the recruits 
 of the vast army which has moved for ages onward to a 
 common fate units of that 
 
 Innumerable caravan 
 Which moves to that mysterious realm, 
 "Where each must take his chamber 
 Within the silent halls of Death." 
 
 40
 
 A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 
 
 Our brothers in the pilgrimage will fall at our side, but 
 however thickly the arrows of death may shower, we can, 
 while our powers continue, do naught but move on until 
 we reach the awful instant when we are to exchange the 
 feeble pulses of transitory existence for the ceaseless 
 throbbing of eternal life. There, even there, at that 
 
 O 77 
 
 mysterious frontier, if we have been faithful and fearless 
 in the march, we may lie down obedient to destiny, with 
 the exalted hope that after all the objects of this world 
 shall have become lost forever to our mortal sight, there 
 may be unfolded to our new and spiritual vision another 
 realm of unimaginable glory, where we and all whom we 
 loved on earth may realize the promise which the Great 
 Ruler of the universe has made unto the just. 
 
 CHRISTMAS, 1860. 
 (G) 41
 
 
 
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