{"product_id":"2940013197312","title":"The Christmas Child","description":"CHAPTER                                                           PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I. THE COMING OF JOAN                                              1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   II. JOAN'S SEARCH                                                  10\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  III. THE CHILD IN THE MANGER                                        28\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   IV. LOST AND FOUND                                                 40\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE COMING OF JOAN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlong some parts of the coast in South Wales the mountains rise abruptly\u003cbr\u003efrom the shore, with only a narrow shingle between them and the sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHigh above the coast, however, there are warm, sunny little valleys and\u003cbr\u003edells among the hills, where sheep can find pasture and a fold; and here\u003cbr\u003ethere are many small farmsteads, surrounded by wild rocks and bleak\u003cbr\u003euplands, where the farmer and his family live with their servants, if\u003cbr\u003ethey happen to have any, as they used to do in old times, sitting in the\u003cbr\u003esame kitchen, and taking their meals together as one household.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMiss Priscilla Parry was the last of three leaseholders of one of these\u003cbr\u003elittle farms. Her grandfather had enclosed the meadows and the\u003cbr\u003ecorn-fields from the open mountain, on condition that he should have a\u003cbr\u003elease for three lives from the owner of the land. His own and his son's\u003cbr\u003ehad been two of the lives, and Priscilla's was the third.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe farm was poor, for the land was hard to cultivate. In every field\u003cbr\u003ethere were places where the rocks pierced through the scanty soil, and\u003cbr\u003estood out, grey and sharp, amid the grass and the ripening corn. The\u003cbr\u003esalt-laden winds and the fogs from the sea swept over them. Miss\u003cbr\u003ePriscilla spent no money in draining or manuring them; for was not the\u003cbr\u003elease to pass away when she died, and she was nearly sixty years of age\u003cbr\u003ealready?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the sheep and the cows throve wonderfully on the short, sweet\u003cbr\u003eherbage they browsed on the mountains; and her butter and cheese, and\u003cbr\u003ethe mutton she sold to the butchers, were known through all the\u003cbr\u003ecountry. Nobody could produce finer. Every one knew she was saving money\u003cbr\u003eup in her little mountain farmstead, and the money was being carefully\u003cbr\u003elaid by for Rhoda Parry, the niece she had adopted in her infancy and\u003cbr\u003ebrought up as her own child.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMiss Priscilla was a spare, hard-featured woman, with a weather-stained\u003cbr\u003eface, and hands as horny as a man's with farm-work. Twice a week she\u003cbr\u003ewore a bonnet and shawl, when she went to market or church. All other\u003cbr\u003etimes her head was covered by a cotton hood, which could not be damaged\u003cbr\u003eby rain, snow, or wind; and in bad weather she often went about her farm\u003cbr\u003ewith an old sack over her shoulders. Her shoes were as thick and as\u003cbr\u003eheavily nailed as old Nathan's, her head servant, and she strode in and\u003cbr\u003eout of her sheds and stables and pigsties as if she had been a man. It\u003cbr\u003ewas said she could get more work done for smaller wages than any farmer\u003cbr\u003ein the country.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147505484016,"sku":"2940013197312","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013197312_p0.jpg?v=1763577662","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013197312","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}