“What a pretty new dress, Laura!” the Reverend Alden said.
Laura almost forgave Nellie Oleson that day. Then came Sundays when the Reverend Alden stayed at his own far church and in Sunday school Nellie Oleson turned up her nose at Laura and flounced her shoulders under the fur cape. Hot wickedness boiled up in Laura again.
One afternoon Ma said there would be no lessons, because they must all get ready to go to town that night. Laura and Mary were astonished.
“But we never go to town at night!” Mary said.
“There must always be a first time,” said Ma.
“But why must there be, Ma?” Laura asked. “Why are we going to town at night?”
“It’s a surprise,” said Ma. “Now, no more questions. We must all take baths, and be our very nicest.”
In the middle of the week, Ma brought in the washtub and heated water for Mary’s bath. Then again for Laura’s bath, and again for Carrie’s. There had never been such scrubbing and scampering, such a changing to fresh drawers and petticoats, such brushing of shoes and braiding of hair and tying on of hair ribbons. There had never been such a wondering.
Supper was early. After supper, Pa bathed in the bedroom. Laura and Mary put on their new dresses. They knew better than to ask any more questions, but they wondered and whispered together.
The wagon box was full of clean hay. Pa put Mary and Laura in it and wrapped blankets around them. He climbed to the seat beside Ma and drove away toward town.
The stars were small and frosty in the dark sky. The horses’ feet clippety-clopped and the wagon rattled over the hard ground.
Pa heard something else. “Whoa!” he said, pulling up the reins. Sam and David stopped. There was nothing but vast, dark coldness and stillness pricked by the stars. Then the stillness blossomed into the loveliest sound.
Two clear notes sounded, and sounded again and again.
No one moved. Only Sam and David tinkled their bits together and breathed. Those two notes went on, full and loud, soft and low. They seemed to be the stars singing.
Too soon Ma murmured, “We’d better be getting on, Charles,” and the wagon rattled on. Still through its rattling Laura could hear those swaying notes.
“Oh, Pa, what is it?” she asked, and Pa said, “It’s the new churchbell, Laura.”
It was for this that Pa had worn his old patched boots.
The town seemed asleep. The stores were dark as Pa drove past them. Then Laura exclaimed, “Oh, look at the church! How pretty the church is!”
The church was full of light. Light spilled out of all its windows and ran out into the darkness from the door when it opened to let some one in. Laura almost jumped out from under the blankets before she remembered that she must never stand up in the wagon when the horses were going.
Pa drove to the church steps and helped them all out. He told them to go in, but they waited in the cold until he had covered Sam and David with their blankets. Then he came, and they all went into the church together.
Laura’s mouth fell open and her eyes stretched to look at what she saw. She held Mary’s hand tightly and they followed Ma and Pa. They sat down. Then Laura could look with all her might.
&n
bsp; Standing in front of the crowded benches was a tree. Laura decided it must be a tree. She could see its trunk and branches. But she had never before seen such a tree.
Where leaves would be in summer, there were clusters and streamers of thin green paper. Thick among them hung little sacks made of pink mosquito-bar. Laura was almost sure she could see candy in them. From the branches hung packages wrapped in colored paper, red packages and pink packages and yellow packages, all tied with colored string. Silk scarves were draped among them. Red mittens hung by the cord that would go around your neck and keep them from being lost if you were wearing them. A pair of new shoes hung by their heels from a branch. Lavish strings of white popcorn were looped all over this.
Under the tree and leaning against it were all kinds of things. Laura saw a crinkly-bright washboard, a wooden tub, a churn and dasher, a sled made of new boards, a shovel, a long-handled pitchfork.
Laura was too excited to speak. She squeezed Mary’s hand tighter and tighter, and she looked up at Ma, wanting so much to know what that was. Ma smiled down at her and answered, “That is a Christmas tree, girls. Do you think it is pretty?”
They could not answer. They nodded while they kept on looking at that wonderful tree. They were hardly even surprised to know that this was Christmas, though they had not expected Christmas yet because there was not enough snow. Just then Laura saw the most wonderful thing of all. From a far branch of that tree hung a little fur cape, and a muff to match!
The Reverend Alden was there. He preached about Christmas, but Laura was looking at that tree and she could not hear what he said. Everyone stood up to sing and Laura stood up, but she could not sing. Not a sound would come out of her throat. In the whole world, there couldn’t be a store so wonderful to look at as that tree.
After the singing, Mr. Tower and Mr. Beadle began taking things off it, and reading out names. Mrs. Tower and Miss Beadle brought those things down past the benches, and gave them to the person whose name was on them.
Everything on that tree was a Christmas present for somebody!