how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle,
as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the
little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet
and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully
warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the
flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the
remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.
She rubbed another match on the wall. It burst into a flame, and where its
light fell upon the wall it became as transparent as a veil, and she could see
into the room. The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth, on
which stood a splendid dinner service, and a steaming roast goose, stuffed
with apples and dried plums. And what was still more wonderful, the goose
jumped down from the dish and waddled across the floor, with a knife and
fork in its breast, to the little girl. Then the match went out, and there
remained nothing but the thick, damp, cold wall before her.
She lighted another match, and then she found herself sitting under a
beautiful Christmas-tree. It was larger and more beautifully decorated than
the one which she had seen through the glass door at the rich merchant’s.
Thousands of tapers were burning upon the green branches, and colored
pictures, like those she had seen in the show-windows, looked down upon it
all. The little one stretched out her hand towards them, and the match went
out.
The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked to her like
the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak
of fire. “Someone is dying,” thought the little girl, for her old grandmother,
the only one who had ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told her
that when a star falls, a soul was going up to God.
She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round her; in
the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and
loving in her appearance. “Grandmother,” cried the little one, “O take me
with you; I know you will go away when the match burns out; you will
vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and the large, glorious
