A
little girl busily finished a snowman and stepped back to survey it.
Satisfied, she walked from the yard to the door in the front of a
house. The door was a tall, broad oaken door such as could be seen on
many of the surrounding houses. A few cracks between its planks
glowed with firelight, and the door’s hinges mildly creaked as the
little girl pushed them and skipped into the house. The house was not
as commonplace as the door; it was completely overgrown with thick
vines that even curled up the chimney. Therefore, it was impossible
for the passerby to mark any other distinctions about the house other
than the vines, and the clear, centered door.
That evening,
Ruth (for that was the little girl’s name) skipped inside and to
the kitchen. The inside of the uncommon house was a warm, inviting
place with a large table, dozens of chairs, and a roaring fire. The
use of the house was as unusual as its appearance. It was build and owned by Saul, who had adopted every member of his family who lived with him.
A tall, hardy man
stood with his back to the fire. When the man saw Ruth, he moved to
make room for her and set a chair before the fire for her to sit in.
“Hello, Saul.”
Ruth said cheerily, setting a stack of dishes she had intended to set
the table with onto a nearby seat.
Saul lowered to
his knees and took Ruth’s cold, small hands. He covered them with
his deeply tanned ones and rubbed them..
“Are you cold,
Ruth?” he asked simply. His eyebrows gathered as he gently worked
her fingers.
“Not anymore,”
she replied with a laugh.
Saul took up the
dishes and set them on the table. Ruth followed him, helping to place
them.
Coming from the
next room walked an elderly woman with a smile on her wrinkled face.
She approached the table and softly helped with the dishes. Saul took
her arm and helped her tenderly to a special rocking chair on one
side of the fire. The woman eased herself into the chair with a sigh
of comfort. Ruth joined them, watching Saul stir the stew with bright
eyes and thinking how strange and quiet the house seemed. It was not
quiet for long.
A shouting boy
and barking dog burst in upon them.
“I got it! I
got it!” the boy cried, holding out his cupped hands.
Saul seemed
excited.
“Let’s see
it, Colin.”
“What is it?”
asked Ruth.
Colin
concentrated on his hands as he slowly opened them.
The dog whined.
“It’s a
little bitty thing,” said Saul.
“Ain’t it
tiny?” Colin boasted, rubbing the furry back of a chipmunk with his
finger. “I got a box and everything to keep him in. Just wait ‘til
Grover sees it, he’ll-”
The dog broke
into a frenzy of barking, and ran wildly in circles.
“It’s him!
He’s here!” Colin cried, clamping shut on his pet and running out
the door.
Saul straightened
and watched, smiling.
In a moment Colin
returned, excitedly recounting his tale of trading corks and string
for his new pet, and the dog barking at the heels of an interested
young man. Grover was dressed warmly, his hair was unkempt, and he
looked around with an air of confidence. He asked Colin many
questions about the chipmunk as he casually moved toward Saul and shook his hand
meaningfully. He then placed his hand on Ruth’s hat and gave it a
spin, slowly stopping to lean above the old woman’s rocking chair.
Saul stirred his
stew, removed it from the fire, and set in on the table. Ruth took
his hand and led him to the door. They looked up the street, and then
down, but saw nothing to satisfy them.
Turning back
inside, Saul said, “I reckon we’ll be eating without Daniel
today. Gather around, everybody.”
Colin and Grover
helped the old woman to the table and they all settled in around the
stew. Saul bowed his head and closed his eyes. The others did the
same. For a moment there was quiet.
“We come to
thank thee, Lord, for thy blessing of this food. Amen.”
The others
murmured amen sincerely and looked up.
Sitting between
Saul and Ruth was the last member of the house. Daniel lifted his
serious blue eyes and smiled at their surprised expressions. He
spooned Ruth some stew. She ate it slowly, alternately listening to
Colin and Grover, and watching the happy, contented looks of the
others.
After supper,
Ruth gathered the dishes with an air of importance; she always felt
important being in charge of them. Ruth washed and Daniel dried as
Saul talked.
“Our neighbors
across the street are needing a warmer barn to put their livestock in
since they have started their dairy.” he was saying. “I suppose
that we’ll be helping them tomorrow.”
Ruth listened
attentively.
A hasty knock
sounded at the door and a neighbor’s burly head darted inside.
“Jack Land fell
down his old well,” he cried. “We need a rope.”
Everyone stopped.
Without a word,
Saul strode across the room and took a thick coil of rough rope from
one of the beams. Daniel dried his hands, and Grover snatched his
jacket. The three men left the house immediately and Colin followed
with his dog. Ruth watched them leave and grew worried for Jack Land
and his wife. She closed the door and finished the dishes neatly.
Then she arranged the chairs into rows and swept the floor, stirred
the coals and prepared a straw bed on the floor. Taking down an oil
lamp from a shelf, she trimmed the wick and lit it, setting in on a
chair before a front window.
The sky quickly
grew dark and moonlight reflected on sparkling snow. Men, women,
horses, and oxen with carts and carriages passed Saul’s overgrown
house, busily going their separate ways. The house looked uncanny in
the dark. A few rumors had circulated that it was a mental asylum, or
some sort of orphanage. Everyone knew that it was an odd place
inhabited by strange, unrelated folk. The windows glowed behind the
leafed vines with an eerie yellow.
Ruth waited long
by the fire until she nodded asleep in her chair. As if in a dream,
she saw Saul return, gather her in his arms, and lay her gently on
her bed. When she woke, she found it was early daylight. The fire was
reduced to smoldering embers, and Colin was snoring heavily beside
his dog.
Snow had fallen
during the night and was being shoveled away from a few doors.
Slowly, the household began to awake. Ruth busies herself with
preparing breakfast. Daniel was first to the kitchen.
“Jack Land
broke his leg.” he told her. He never talked much. Ruth knew that
by his simple sentence he meant that Jack had been found in a bad
place, someone was lowered to help him be pulled up, Saul paid the
doctor to set his leg, and they boarded over the empty, old well.
After they had done all they could to help, Saul, Daniel, Grover, and
Colin came home very late.
Ruth nodded and
started toward the old woman’s room. Before she had half reached
it, Grover came up behind her and swung her in the air. Ruth gasped,
and screamed until he set her back on the floor. He began to tickle
her. She laughed and squirmed out of his grasp, running to Daniel.
She clung to his arm and looked triumphantly back at Grover. Daniel was her
refuge against Grover's funny tricks.
The front door
opened, and a gust of snowy wind whistled into the room as Saul
stepped inside. Ruth ran past the barking dog to Saul, shut the door,
and led him to the fire. She laid his stiff, cold coat over a chair
and rubbed his large hands.
“Are you cold,
Saul?” she asked.
“It’s a
chilling day, Ruth.” he replied. “It’s a frozen Christmas Day.”
Ruth started.
Today was Christmas Day?
“And there’s
a young widow who’s living across town with her children in a place
that ain’t fit for living in.” he continued lowly, staring at the
fire.
Rust’s heart
warmed. She knew he had helped the widow somehow that morning.
Everyone gathered
around the table for breakfast.
“I suppose to
help build that barn today would be best,” Saul said.
Daniel nodded.
“How many cows
do they have?” asked Grover.
“Some dozen or
so, I believe.” Saul answered.
Ruth felt her
feet suddenly clamped upon by a pair of legs under the table. She
tried to kick, and looked at Grover with shining and protesting eyes.
“I reckon
that’ll be one barn, Sir?” continued Grover politely.
The dog barked,
and Colin put his head under the table, laughing.
Ruth’s small
feet wiggled free from between his legs and she scooted her chair
closer to Daniel. Daniel patted her shoulder.
Before he left,
Saul kissed Miss Eva tenderly on her hair. Daniel and Grover did the
same, and Colin followed them out with his dog licking at his heels.
Ruth hummed a little tune as she cleaned the table and sat quietly
before the fire, watching it with a thoughtful expression.
Today was
Christmas Day. She had often dreamed of how nice it would be to do
something special at Christmas. Ruth did no think of gifts: few gifts
were given in that house other than the most important ones of love
and virtue. Rather, she thought of what she had seen Saul give.
After kindly
attending to Miss Eva and kissing her, Ruth hastily gathered some
warm clothes and hurried outside. Instead of staying inside the low
fence around the front yard as she usually did, Ruth stepped boldly
onto the snowy cobblestone street as she pulled on an overlarge coat
and hat.
No one noticed
the small, odd figure hurry through the streets alone, but Ruth
noticed almost every person she passed. That man looked cold, or this
woman seemed worried. She often stopped to steady a child slipping on
the ice, or help an elderly person to rise from their seat.
Once, she stooped
to pick up a lady’s coin that fell from her purse as she paid for a
hired carriage. When she straightened with it, the lady gave a small,
sharp cry.
“Why, You are
Saul’s little girl,” she exclaimed.
Ruth was very
surprised; she did not know the lady.
“I’m sorry,
ma’am,” she said. “I don’t know you.”
“You were very
young when I met you. I was quite a girl, myself.”
“How did you
know me today, then?” asked Ruth.
The lady
hesitated and glanced at the snow, saying, “I never will forget
your sweet face, dear.” She looked back up and smiled. “Keep the
coin; I am glad to have seen you.”
Ruth watched the
carriage drive away and continued her walk thoughtfully.
Presently, a
wagon stopped beside her and the driver called down.
“Yer one of
Saul’s young ’uns, ain’t ya?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ruth
answered slowly.
The driver nodded
to her.
“Come up!” he
said, giving her his hand.
Ruth climbed
beside him and sat down.
The man started
the horses.
“I knew ya
right off,” he told her. “Though it was some time ago when I saw
ya. Saul helped with my farm when my wife was pretty ill. She got
better, though. It was a blessin’ for his watching the weather and
bringin’ in my crops. ‘Twas a good crop, too, I remember. He
wouldn’t take no payment; he said it was the Lord’s blessin’
that he could help. If ever I could do anything for him, I would.
That’s why, when I saw ya, I thought I’d give ya a ride.”
Ruth listened to
his every word with deep interest. When she saw that his direction
was changing, she thanked him and stepped back onto the icy road. Her
face was red, and her toes numb with cold, but she pulled the coat
tighter around herself and kept walking.
This part of town
was unfamiliar by sight, since she rarely went from home, but Saul
had spoken of it so much, Ruth knew where to go.
As Ruth passed
shops and houses, people and animals, wagons, carts and carriages,
she noticed only a few people smiling. She wondered why.
Out of a door
before her, an Italian-looking man poked his head and drew a deep
breath.
“Ah,
Christmas,” he said to the air with a chuckle. “Bring me
customers for my Christmas pies!”
He saw Ruth. “Come in, you
are cold! My bakery is very warm. Come in!”
Ruth followed him
inside and smiled in the hot room. Lining the walls were shelves of
fresh pies and cakes and rolls.
The man looked at
her and spread his arms out. “These,” he
said impressively. “Are my Christmas foods. They are very good. I
know,” he whispered confidentially, leaning down. “I know because
a man I trust told me that my baking is good. So I started my
bakery.” He raised his voice as if to an audience. “That was
months ago when I did not know what I would do for my living. I am
doing well now, and will soon return to the man I trust and say,
‘Saul, you are the reason of my career! If you had not told me I
baked so well, I would not have started my bakery. Furthermore, you
gave me the money to start my business and here it is back, for I can
now repay you!” He started on a roll of thanks.
“Saul,”
Ruth cried, wide-eyed. “Do you know Saul?”
“Do
you?” the man
returned, amazed.
“I live with
him; I love him! Did he really help you with your bakery?”
“This
is Providence!” the baker cried. “I owe him all that I own!
Please, take a roll; take a pie!”
He stuffed Ruth’s
pockets.
Ruth waved back
when she left the bakery. Delighted, she ran down a few streets, and
then slowed, looking around. She had heard Saul give directions to
this place before, and now she searched for the red door.
A tall, haggard
woman came to the door and raised her eyebrows when she saw Ruth.
“Please,
ma’am,” Ruth began. “I am Saul’s little girl, and I have
brought you a Christmas gift.”
She pulled from
her pockets all the baked goods she had been given, and handed also
the lady’s coin.
The woman’s
face brightened. “Saul brought
firewood to me and my children this morning,” she said. “And you
have brought some things also. Thank you!”
Ruth smiled and
turned away, perfectly contented. Christmas Day had been made a
special day. Before she reached the end of the street, Ruth saw some
children playing near her. They were kicking snow at one another and
playing roughly. When they saw Ruth, they began to laugh at her.
Ruth was puzzled.
“Hello,” she
said.
“Hello back!”
one answered, pointing at her face and laughing.
“What’s on
your face? Mud?” laughed another.
Ruth touched her
face.
They led her to a
window.
Looking in the
glass, Ruth saw a reflection clearly of herself: a large hat almost
covered her bright eyes, and her face looked small under it. But on
her face there was something she had seen before, but had not thought
about- a large dark place. Her cold hands felt it. Her throat
tightened. The happy face she saw now blushed and seemed ugly.
“Go wash your
face!” the children cried, laughing.
Ruth pushed past
them and ran down the street. She knew her face was not dirty. Saul
had told her the dark spot was a handprint from an angel who touched
her in her mama's womb. It was a reminder of heaven where her mother
now lived. Now the mark repelled her.
The snow beneath
her feet blurred as her eyes filled with tears. For a long while she
ran, until she dropped, breathless and hot, in the snow at a hidden
corner. She cried
bitterly and hid her face. She also saw that it was growing dark, and
she would soon lose her way.
Forcing herself
to trudge on, though now she ached with cold, Ruth suddenly had some
terrible thoughts. Was Saul ashamed of her face? Did Daniel wish she
would not be near him? Had Grover and Colin wanted to laugh at her?
Did Miss Eva think she was ugly?
When Ruth neared
her home, it was quite dark. No one noticed her walking wearily on
the empty road. The moon glistened on the snow, and a frozen wind
whistled through bare branches. Ruth stopped and looked up from her
feet, shivering. Behind the snow-buried fence stood Saul’s house.
The leaves on the vines trembled in the wind, the overgrown windows
glowed yellow, and the broad door was clear and dark. A path wound
through snowdrifts, and Ruth followed it to the door. Slowly and
softly, she pushed the door slightly open. Ruth caught her breath.
The room was full
of warmth, light, and laughter. It was crowded with stranger who were
eating, talking, and smiling, and laughing. With his back to
the fire, stood Saul, his face beaming.
A weight lifted
from Ruth when she saw him. She ran forward with a cry, unmindful
that people would see her face, but wanting only to return Saul’s
joyous smile.
Saul exclaimed
when she threw her arms around him.
“Ruth,” he
said gently. “I missed you.”
Ruth looked at
him with shining eyes.
“I wanted to do
something special today.” She told him what she had done for the
poor woman across town, about the people she met, and the children
who laughed at her.
“Ruth, you are
beautiful.” he said. “And your heart showed a beautiful thing
today.”
Ruth smiled
through some tears and felt her fear melt before the wonderful warmth
of Saul's love.
When she looked
around the room, Ruth saw Daniel coming toward her, and Grover and
Collin wave from Miss Eva’s chair. She also saw Jack Land and his
wife, the lady in the carriage, the wagon driver and his family, and
many other people she did not know.
Everyone
sang carols and told stores. Ruth played with Colin, and watched for
Grover’s tricks, (except when she ran to Daniel.) Christmas Day was
filled with love and generosity. The stars shone
above the house as they had above Bethlehem, and in Heaven above sang
the angels as they had to shepherds, saying, ‘Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests!’
By Anna Sampley 2012