First published in 1870, this is one of the earliest American children's Christmas stories, written by Edward Eggleston, the beloved author of The Hoosier Schoolmaster. The tale follows Mr. Blake, a kind-hearted minister whose walking-stick known as 'Old Ebony' seems to possess a personality of its own, offering comical commentary as the minister goes about his rounds. During the Christmas season, Mr. Blake and his son Willie visit the struggling widows and blind broom-makers in their community, inspiring the children of the Sunday school to sacrifice their own gift wishes for acts of practical kindness. Willie hatches a plan to raise money for a sewing machine that would transform a widow's life, and the story builds toward a Christmas morning where the joy of giving replaces the expectation of receiving. The narrative captures a particular 19th-century American optimism about community, faith, and the capacity of children to learn generosity. It endures not as sophisticated literature but as a genuine artifact of Victorian holiday sentiment, the kind of book that shaped how generations of American children understood what Christmas could mean.
