{"product_id":"2940013197404","title":"THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I  The Call of the Woodsman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    II  The Trail Through the Forest\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   III  The Shadow of the Thunder-Oak\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IV  The Felling of the Tree\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe day before Christmas, in the year of our Lord 722.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBroad snow-meadows glistening white along the banks of the river\u003cbr\u003eMoselle; pallid hill-sides blooming with mystic roses where the\u003cbr\u003eglow of the setting sun still lingered upon them; an arch of\u003cbr\u003eclearest, faintest azure bending overhead; in the center of the\u003cbr\u003eaerial landscape of the massive walls of the cloister of Pfalzel,\u003cbr\u003egray to the east, purple to the west; silence over all,--a\u003cbr\u003egentle, eager, conscious stillness, diffused through the air like\u003cbr\u003eperfume, as if earth and sky were hushing themselves to hear the\u003cbr\u003evoice of the river faintly murmuring down the valley.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the cloister, too, there was silence at the sunset hour. All\u003cbr\u003eday long there had been a strange and joyful stir among the nuns.\u003cbr\u003eA breeze of curiosity and excitement had swept along the\u003cbr\u003ecorridors and through every quiet cell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe elder sisters,--the provost, the deaconess, the stewardess,\u003cbr\u003ethe portress with her huge bunch of keys jingling at her\u003cbr\u003egirdle,--had been hurrying to and fro, busied with household\u003cbr\u003ecares. In the huge kitchen there was a bustle of hospitable\u003cbr\u003epreparation. The little bandy-legged dogs that kept the spits\u003cbr\u003eturning before the fires had been trotting steadily for many an\u003cbr\u003ehour, until their tongues hung out for want of breath. The big\u003cbr\u003eblack pots swinging from the cranes had bubbled and gurgled and\u003cbr\u003eshaken and sent out puffs of appetizing steam.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSt. Martha was in her element. It was a field-day for her\u003cbr\u003evirtues.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe younger sisters, the pupils of the convent, had forsaken\u003cbr\u003etheir Latin books and their embroidery-frames, their manuscripts\u003cbr\u003eand their miniatures, and fluttered through the halls in little\u003cbr\u003eflocks like merry snow-birds, all in black and white, chattering\u003cbr\u003eand whispering together. This was no day for tedious task-work,\u003cbr\u003eno day for grammar or arithmetic, no day for picking out\u003cbr\u003eilluminated letters in red and gold on stiff parchment, or\u003cbr\u003epatiently chasing intricate patterns over thick cloth with the\u003cbr\u003eslow needle. It was a holiday. A famous visitor had come to the\u003cbr\u003econvent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was Winfried of England, whose name in the Roman tongue was\u003cbr\u003eBoniface, and whom men called the Apostle of Germany. A great\u003cbr\u003epreacher; a wonderful scholar; he had written a Latin grammar\u003cbr\u003ehimself,--think of it,--and he could hardly sleep without a book\u003cbr\u003eunder his pillow; but, more than all, a great and daring\u003cbr\u003etraveller, a venturesome pilgrim, a high-priest of romance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had left his home and his fair estate in Wessex; he would not\u003cbr\u003estay in the rich monastery of Nutescelle, even though they had\u003cbr\u003echosen him as the abbot; he had refused a bishopric at the court\u003cbr\u003eof King Karl. Nothing would content him but to go out into the\u003cbr\u003ewild woods and preach to the heathen.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147505680624,"sku":"2940013197404","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013197404_p0.jpg?v=1763577861","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013197404","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}