The Portland daily press., 1866-02-10
Sunday Reading.
THE LITTLE MATCH-PEDDLER
a Story for the Children.
Translated from tho German OF Hans Christian AM
derson, by Mary Kyle ~ t /

Translated from tho German of Hans Christian AM
"a derson, by Mary Kyle f..a I
1t was terribly cold; it showed, and was al
ready quite dark; the evening was the last OF
the year. Out in the GOODNESS wandered poor
little maiden, with bare head and naked feet
When She left home she had on slippers; but
what ayailed that? The slippers were very
large. SO large that her mother had formerly
worn them. The little one lost them as She
was running across the street while two wao-
ons were rolling by at frightful speed. One
of the slippers was nowhere to be found. a bow
had seized and run off with the other. 4, He
thought he could use it very well as a cradle,
when he should first have a child. Since then
the maiden had gone with tiny, bare feet, that
were very red and blue with cold. 'f's so'
In an old apron she carried some matches,
and bunch thereof in each hand. No one
had bought any OF her the whole long day, nor
given her one penny. ''
Trembling with cold and hunger, she crept
along, an image of woe, poor child The snow
fakes covered her long, golden hair, which fell
in beautiful curls on her neck; but of this, tfu-
ly, she thought not now. Out of every win
dow cleaned the light, and she inhaled the
delicious odor of roast goose; it was Sylvester
Eve; yes, thereon thought shell -.
She crouched in corner formed by two
houses, one. of which jutted out somewhat
more than the other, and curled up her little
feet; but she was colder than before. She
dared not 60 home, she had sold no matches
and brought no penny with her. Her father
would certainly beat her, and it was so cold at
home also; above her she had only the roof,
through which the wind whislted, even though
the great gaps were filled with straw and rags.
Her little hands were nearly stiff with cold.
All! a match could do her so much good, if
she should take single one from the bunch
and strike it on the wall. She drew one out
Rschtl how it sputteIed, how it burned It
was a warm, bright fame, like little taper,
as she held her hands over it; it was WON
derful little light 1t shone cheerfully on the
little maiden, and she sat before large iron
furnace, with polished brass legs and a brazen
cover. The fire burned so blessedly, it warns
ed SO nicely; the little one had already stretch
ell forth her feet to the warmth-but then the
flames went out; the flames disappeared, and
she had only the stump of the burntup match
in her hand. She struck a second, it flashed,
and when the glow fell on the wall, it became
transparent like veil. She could see into the
room. A snow-white cloth was laid on the
table, thereon stood shining porcelain dishes.
and roast goose, stuffed with apple and
plums, exhaled a delicious odor. And what
was yetmore beautiful to see, the goose hoped
down on the floor from the platter, with knife
and fork in its breast, and waddled toward the
pOOI utbfc uldluCus 4uCu but uldtcn went
out, and left again only the thick, cold, damp
walls. She lighted another match. There
she sat then, under a glorious Christmas tree,
it was still grander and more beautiful than
that she had seen through the glass door of
the rich merchants house. Thousands of ia.
pers burned on the green boughs, and gay
colored images, such as she had seen in the
show-windows, looked down on her. The lit
tie one stretched out her hand towards them !;
the match went out. The Christmas lights
assembled higher and higher; she saw them
shine as stars in the heavens; one of them
fell down and made a long fre-streak. Snow
died some one" thought the little maiden, for
her old grandmother, the only one who had
loved her, and who was now dead, had told
her that, when star falls, a soul ascends to
God. % 1909 32st5 %. 7'ii,'.l "a "a, - ~.
Again she struck match on the wall, again
1t became bright, and in the splendor stood her
old grandmother, SO bright and radiant, SO ten
der and loving. r. =
me with you. know thou wilt depart when
the match goes out, that thou wilt vanish like
the warm furnace, like the beautiful, large
Christmas tree, like the delicious roast goose
And she lighted the whole bunch of matches,
for she wished to hold very fast to her grand
mother. And the matches flashed with such
splendor that it became lighter than midday.
The grandmother had never been SO beautiful
before, so grandl She took the little one in
her arms, and both scared in splendorso high,
so highl And up there was no more cold,
nor hunger, nor pain-she was with God
But in the corner, leaning against the wall,
sat the poor maiden, in the cold morning
hour, with red cheeks and laughing mouth
frozen on the last night of the Old Yeari The
New Years sun rose on little corpse. There,
stark and cold, sat the child with bundle of
matches, bunch of which had been lighted.
"She tried to keep herself warm" said they
Nobody dreamed what beautiful things she
had seen, in what splendor she had just en-
tered the Happy New Year with her grand
mother. gtfitB " 4 ~ ffr9 III