Christmas-Tide

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Harrison Elizabeth. Christmas-Tide

Christmas-Tide

Table of Contents

I. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

II. THE PLACE OF TOYS IN THE EDUCATION OF A CHILD

III. HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. SUGGESTIONS FOR MOTHERS AND KINDERGARTNERS

IV. SANTA CLAUS

VI. A CHRISTMAS CAROL

VII. LITTLE GRETCHEN AND THE WOODEN SHOE. A CHRISTMAS STORY FOR LITTLE CHILDREN

VIII. THE LEGEND OF THE CHRIST CHILD.[3] A STORY FOR CHRISTMAS EVE

IX. A CHRISTMAS SONG

X. BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS

Отрывок из книги

Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Harrison

Published by Good Press, 2021

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And then the German dolls! One would know from the dolls alone that Germany was the land of Froebel and the birthplace of the Kindergarten, that it was the country where even the beer-gardens are softened and refined by the family presence. All the regulation ornaments for Christmas trees come from this nation, bringing with them memories of Luther; of his breaking away from the celibacy enjoined by the church; of his entering into the joyous family life, and trying to bring with him into the home life all that was sacred in the church—Christmas festivals along with the rest. Very few firearms come from this nation, but among them I saw some strong cast-iron cannons from Berlin; they looked as if Bismarck himself might have ordered their manufacture.

The Swiss toys are largely the bluntly carved wooden cattle, sheep and goats, with equally blunt shepherds and shepherdesses, reminding one forcibly of the dull faces of those much-enduring beasts of burden called Swiss peasants. I once saw a Swiss girl who had sold to an American woman, for a few francs, three handkerchiefs, the embroidering of which had occupied the evenings of her entire winter; there was no look of discontent or disgust as the American tossed them into her trunk with a lot of other trinkets, utterly oblivious of the amount of human life which had been patiently worked into them. What kind of toys could come from a people among whom such scenes are accepted as a matter of course?

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