The Cricket on the Hearth: and Other Christmas Stories (Dover Thrift Editions)
(in full The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home) Short tale written by Charles Dickens as a Christmas book for 1845 but published in 1846. The title creature is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John's mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John's confidence and all ends happily. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.