{"product_id":"2940013182783","title":"The Christmas Guest","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                             PAGE\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTORY,                                                  9\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER II.\u003cbr\u003e\"THE MAIN CHANCE,\"                                            17\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER III.\u003cbr\u003eTHE CRADLE-SONG; A FREE TRANSLATION FROM KÖRNER,              35\u003cbr\u003eTHE BROTHERS; OR, IN THE FASHION, AND ABOVE THE FASHION,      37\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER IV.\u003cbr\u003eLOSS AND GAIN; OR, HEARTS VERSUS DIAMONDS,                    48\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER V.\u003cbr\u003eTHE BIRD'S RELEASE. BY MRS. HEMANS,                           70\u003cbr\u003eTHE YOUNG MISANTHROPE,                                        72\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER VI.\u003cbr\u003eLIFE IN AMERICA,                                              91\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER VII.\u003cbr\u003eSUNDAY,                                                      126\u003cbr\u003eEVENING HYMN,                                                128\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER VIII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE WOLF CHASE,                                              133\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER IX.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE HISTORY OF AN OLD MAID,                                  140\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER X.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE FAMILY MEETING,                                          166\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER XI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DYING HEBREW,                                            169\u003cbr\u003e\"ONLY A MECHANIC,\"                                           172\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER XII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLOVE AND PRIDE,                                              196\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER XIII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE TEST OF LOVE. A STORY OF THE LAST WAR,                   227\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER XIV.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE FLOWER ANGELS,                                           266\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHRISTMAS GUEST;\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOR,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEVENINGS AT DONALDSON MANOR.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe largest and the most picturesque country-house of all I know in\u003cbr\u003eAmerica, is the mansion house of my friends, the Donaldsons. I would\u003cbr\u003egladly inform the reader of its locality, but this Colonel Donaldson has\u003cbr\u003epositively prohibited, for a reason too flattering to my self-love to be\u003cbr\u003eresisted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You know, my dear Madam,\"--I give his own words, by which I hope the\u003cbr\u003ecourteous reader will understand that I am really too modest even to\u003cbr\u003eseem to adopt the flattering sentiment they convey--\"You know, my dear\u003cbr\u003emadam, that your description will be read by every body who is any body,\u003cbr\u003eand that through it my simple home will become classic ground. If I\u003cbr\u003epermit you to direct the tourist tribe to it, I shall be pestered out of\u003cbr\u003emy life when summer comes, by travelling artists, would-be poets, and\u003cbr\u003eromantic young ladies.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI may not therefore, dear reader, tell you whether this pleasant abode\u003cbr\u003ebe washed by the waves of the Atlantic or by the turbid current of the\u003cbr\u003eMississippi; whether it be fanned by the flower-laden zephyrs of the\u003cbr\u003eSouth, or by the health-inspiring breezes of the North. The exterior\u003cbr\u003emust indeed have been left wholly to your imagination, had I not\u003cbr\u003efortunately obtained a sketch from a young friend, an _amateur_ artist,\u003cbr\u003eof whom I shall have more to say presently. As I could not in honor\u003cbr\u003epresent you with even this poor substitute, as I trust you will consider\u003cbr\u003eit, for my word-painting, without Colonel Donaldson's consent, I have\u003cbr\u003ebeen compelled, in deference to his wish, to divest the picture of every\u003cbr\u003ething that would mark the geographical position of the place\u003cbr\u003erepresented. The shape of its noble old trees we have been permitted to\u003cbr\u003eretain; but their foliage we have been obliged to render so\u003cbr\u003eindistinctly, that even Linnæus himself would find it impossible to\u003cbr\u003edecide whether it belonged to the elm of the North when clothed in all\u003cbr\u003eits summer luxuriance, or to the gigantic live-oak of the South. Even of\u003cbr\u003ethe house itself we have been permitted to give but a rear view, lest\u003cbr\u003ethe more marked features of the landscape in front should hint of its\u003cbr\u003ewhereabouts. As to the figures which appear in the foreground of the\u003cbr\u003epicture, they are but figments of my young artist friend's imagination.\u003cbr\u003eOne of them you may observe carries under the arm a sheaf of wheat, not\u003cbr\u003ea stalk of which I assure you ever grew on the Donaldson lands.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069836968176,"sku":"2940013182783","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013182783_p0.jpg?v=1763577602","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013182783","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}