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A Christmas Fairy · The Children's Book of Christmas Stories

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  Speaker 1: Story number thirty two of the Children's Book of Christmas Stories.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Alisa mc caslin July
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  Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, The Children's Book of Christmas Stories by
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  Speaker 1: Various artists. A Christmas Fairy by John Strange Winter. It
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  Speaker 1: was getting very near to Christmas time, and all the
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  Speaker 1: boys at miss Ware's school were talking about going home
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  Speaker 1: for the holidays. I shall go to the Christmas festival,
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  Speaker 1: said Bertie Fellows. And my mother will have a party,
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  Speaker 1: and my aunt will give another. Oh, I shall have
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  Speaker 1: a splendid time at home. My uncle Bob is going
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  Speaker 1: to give me a pair of skates, remarked Harry Watdham.
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  Speaker 1: My father's going to give me a bicycle, put in
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  Speaker 1: George Alderson. Will you bring it back to school with you?
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  Speaker 1: Asked Harry. Oh. Yes. If miss Ware doesn't say no,
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  Speaker 1: well Tom cried Bertie, where are you going to spend
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  Speaker 1: your holidays? I'm going to stay here, answered Tom in
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  Speaker 1: a very forlorn voice, here at school. Oh dear, why
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  Speaker 1: can't you go home. I can't go home to India,
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  Speaker 1: answered Tom. Nobody said you could. But haven't you any
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  Speaker 1: relatives anywhere? Tom shook his head. Only in India, he said, sadly,
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  Speaker 1: poor fellow, that's hard luck for you. I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: what it is. Boys, if I couldn't go home for
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  Speaker 1: the holidays, especially at Christmas, I think I would just
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  Speaker 1: sit down and die. Oh no, you wouldn't, said Tom.
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  Speaker 1: You would get ever so homesick, But you wouldn't die.
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  Speaker 1: You'd just get through somehow and hope something would happen
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  Speaker 1: before next year, or that some kind fairy would. There
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  Speaker 1: are no fairies nowadays, said Bertie. See here, Tom, I'll
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  Speaker 1: write and ask my mother to invite you to go
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  Speaker 1: home with me for the holidays. Will you really? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: I will, And if she says yes, we shall have
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  Speaker 1: such a splendid time. We live in London, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and have lots of parties and fun. Perhaps she'll say no,
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  Speaker 1: suggested poor little Tom. My mother isn't the kind that
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  Speaker 1: says no, Bertie declared loudly. In a few days time,
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  Speaker 1: a letter arrived from Bertie's mother. The boy opened it eagerly.
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  Speaker 1: It said, my own dear Bertie, I am very sorry
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  Speaker 1: to tell you that little Alice is ill with scarlet fever,
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  Speaker 1: and so you cannot come for your holidays. I would
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  Speaker 1: have been glad to have you bring your little friend
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  Speaker 1: with you if all had been well here. Your father
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  Speaker 1: and I have decided that the best thing that you
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  Speaker 1: can do is to stay at Miss Ware's. We shall
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  Speaker 1: send your Christmas present to you as well as we can.
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  Speaker 1: It will not be like coming home, but I am
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  Speaker 1: sure you will try to be happy and make me
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  Speaker 1: feel that you are helping me in this sad time.
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  Speaker 1: Dear little Alice is very ill, very ill. Indeed, tell
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  Speaker 1: Tom that I sending you a box for both of you,
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  Speaker 1: with two of everything, and tell him that it makes
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  Speaker 1: me so much happier to know that you will not
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  Speaker 1: be alone your own mother. When Bertie Fellows received this letter,
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  Speaker 1: which ended all his Christmas hopes and joys, he hid
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  Speaker 1: his face upon his desk and sobbed aloud. The lonely
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  Speaker 1: boy from India who sat next to him tried to
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  Speaker 1: comfort his friend in every way he could think of.
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  Speaker 1: He patted his shoulder and whispered many kind words to him.
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  Speaker 1: At last, Bertie put the letter into Tom's hand. Read it,
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  Speaker 1: he sobbed. So then Tom understood the cause of Bertie's grief.
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  Speaker 1: Don't fret over it, he said, at last, it might
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  Speaker 1: be worse why your father and mother might be thousands
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  Speaker 1: of miles away like mine are. When Alice is better,
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  Speaker 1: you'll be able to go home, and it will help
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  Speaker 1: your mother if she thinks you are almost as happy
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  Speaker 1: as if you could go Now soon, miss Ware came
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  Speaker 1: to tell Bertie how sorry she was for him, after all,
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  Speaker 1: said she, smiling down on the boys. It is an
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  Speaker 1: ill wind that blows nobody good. Poor Tom has been
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  Speaker 1: expecting to spend his holidays alone, and now he will
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  Speaker 1: have a friend with him. Try to look on the
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  Speaker 1: bright side, Bertie, and to remember how much worse it
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  Speaker 1: would have been if there had been no boy to
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  Speaker 1: stay with you. I can't help being disappointing, miss Ware,
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  Speaker 1: said Bertie, his eyes filling with tears. No, you would
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  Speaker 1: be a strange boy if you were not. But I
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  Speaker 1: want you to try to think of your poor mother
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  Speaker 1: and ride her as cheerfully as you can. Yes, answered Bertie,
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  Speaker 1: but his heart was too full to say more. The
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  Speaker 1: last day of the term came, and one by one
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  Speaker 1: or two by two. The boys went away until only
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  Speaker 1: Bertie and Tom were left in the great house. It
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  Speaker 1: had never seemed so large to either of them before.
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  Speaker 1: It's miserable, groan poor Bertie, as they strolled into the schoolroom.
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  Speaker 1: Just think if we were on our way home now,
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  Speaker 1: how different. Just think if I had been left her
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  Speaker 1: by myself, said Tom. Yes, said Bertie. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: when one wants to go home, he never thinks of
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  Speaker 1: the boys that have no home to go too. The
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  Speaker 1: evening passed and the two boys went to bed. They
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  Speaker 1: told stories to each other for a long time before
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  Speaker 1: they could go to sleep. That night, they dreamed of
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  Speaker 1: their homes and felt very lonely, yet each tried to
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  Speaker 1: be brave, And so another day began. This was the
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  Speaker 1: day before Christmas. Quite early in the morning came the
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  Speaker 1: Great Box of which Bertie's mother had spoken in her letter. Then,
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  Speaker 1: just as dinner had come to an end, there was
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  Speaker 1: a peal of the bell, and a voice was heard
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  Speaker 1: asking for Tom Egerton. Tom sprang to his feet and
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  Speaker 1: flew to greet a tall, handsome lady crying Aunt Laura.
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Laura, and Laura explained that she and her husband
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  Speaker 1: had arrived in London only the day before. I was
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  Speaker 1: so afraid Tom. She said that we should not get
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  Speaker 1: here until Christmas day was over, and that you would
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  Speaker 1: be disappointed. So I would not let your mother write
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  Speaker 1: you that we were on our way home. You must
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  Speaker 1: get your things packed up at once and go back
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  Speaker 1: with me to London then, Uncle and I will give
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  Speaker 1: you a splendid time. For a minute or two, Tom's
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  Speaker 1: face shone with delight. Then he caught sight of Bertie
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  Speaker 1: and turned to his aunt, dear Aunt Laura. He said,
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  Speaker 1: I am very sorry, but I can't go. Can't go,
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  Speaker 1: and why not? Because I can't go and leave Bertie
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  Speaker 1: here all alone, he said stoutly. When I was going
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  Speaker 1: to be alone, He wrote nast his mother to let
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  Speaker 1: me go home with him. She could not have either
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  Speaker 1: of us because Bertie's sister has scarlet fever. He has
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  Speaker 1: to stay here, and he has never been away from
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  Speaker 1: home at Christmas time before, and I can't go away
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  Speaker 1: and leave him by himself Aunt Laura. For a minute,
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Laura looked at the boy as if she could
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  Speaker 1: not believe him. Then she caught him in her arms
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  Speaker 1: and kissed him. You, dear little boy, you shall not
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  Speaker 1: leave him. You shall bring him along, and we shall
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  Speaker 1: all enjoy ourselves together. Bertie, my boy, you are not
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  Speaker 1: very old yet, but I am going to teach you
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  Speaker 1: a lesson as well as I can. It is that
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  Speaker 1: kindness is never wasted in this world. And so Bertie
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  Speaker 1: and Tom found that there was such a thing as
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  Speaker 1: a fairy after all, and of a Christmas fairy by
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  Speaker 1: Jawn strange winter