Daisy and Rose

What is the most precious gift anyone can ever give or receive for Christmas, or any other occasion for that matter? Well, sit down, make yourself comfortable and I will tell you.

The moon paused to peer through an uncurtained window into a small room with nothing but a bed, two chairs, and a large chest. 

Two heads in floppy hats lay on a pillow, and two pairs of bright blue eyes stared at the sparkling stars.

-"I'm so glad we got our shirts done on time." said a tired little voice.

-"Yes, and the kids will be happy with our tree. They will be so pleasantly surprised. I just wish we could put some more toys under it. It looks a little cold, don't you think?" said the other little voice with an undertone of regret.

-"Don't worry about that now, sis. It looks very nice." Daisy reassured her sister in a cheerful voice.

Four blue eyes looked at the chest under the window.

The moon did her best to illuminate the little tree that stood there. It was but a tiny pitiful tree, just a branch of spruce, in an old flowerpot, propped up with bits of coal and adorned with a few dime toys, earned by the patient fingers of the sisters so that the little ones would not be disappointed.

Despite the moonlight, the broken branch, with its meager supply of gifts, looked pitiful and poor.

One pair of eyes slowly filled with tears, and the other pair lost their happy look as if a cloud had passed over the sun.

-"Are you crying?" Daisy asked.

"Just a little bit,” Rose replied.

-"Why?" Daisy wanted to know.

"Until now I didn't really know how poor we were." Rose cried. At the age of twelve, the girl already knew what worries poverty could bring.

-"It's awful!" Rose continued to cry, overcome by a sudden sense of destitution. "A pathetic spruce branch with three candies, and an ugly bird with only one feather in its tail."

Daisy and Rose were in despair.

-"Hush sis, mother will hear you! She's having a hard time already and we said we didn't mind not celebrating Christmas." Daisy admonished her sister.

-"I try my best to cry quietly." Rose sobbed.

The two heads disappeared under a blanket, and the sisters cried softly in each other's arms. They did not want their mother to find out they were not carefree little creatures anymore.

No, they had not been innocent children since their father died a year ago. But they were courageous young girls, who did their best to bear their share of the burden cheerfully.

When their crying was over, their faces shone like flowers after a spring shower.

-"It would be so nice if there really was a Santa Claus, wouldn't it, Daisy?" Rose asked.

-"And much nicer if he put two silver dollars in our stockings." Daisy replied.

-"But” Daisy suggested, “We didn't hang up our stockings, remember?"

-"That is true." Daisy said muffled, "What's the difference, Mother has nothing to put in them anyway."

-"When I'm rich, I'll go around every Christmas with a very big basket full of goodies and give something to every child." Rose decided.

-" Do you think we’ll be rich someday?" Daisy asked.

"Maybe,” Rose replied, "if we do our best to sew many flannel shirts to sell."

-"We should also sew a new hat for mom because hers look pretty shabby." 

Daisy suggested.

-"I wish I could give her a locket for Christmas." Rose mused.

-"Yes,” Daisy jumped in, "and a new apron. A snow-white one with fringes."

-"And good food and grapes and oranges." Rose laughed as her mouth watered at the thought of good food."

-"I'm afraid it's going to be a long time before we are rich." 

Daisy pouted.

-"Maybe we should go to sleep now, otherwise we'll be too tired to get rich." Rose comforted her sister.

-"Good night, Daisy."

-"Night-night, Rose."

Soon the sisters were fast asleep.

The girls had forgotten to whisper, and Miss Cathy who lived in the next room had heard everything they said.

-"Poor little things." she said to herself when the chatter stopped. "Their mother is having such a hard time, but I've never heard the poor woman complain. Maybe I should make her a hat or a bonnet."

Miss Cathy worked in a millinery and was very gifted in making headgear.

-"What if I offend that poor woman?" Miss Cathy wondered, "Maybe I should scrape something together for the kids?" Miss Cathy was very sympathetic to her little neighbors. She knew a lot about hard times herself. She had a good wage now at the hat shop, and she liked pretty rather than neat. She was a good-natured young woman, and what she had heard made her think.

-"If only I hadn't spent all my money on that dress for the party tomorrow night." she wailed, "Then I could have given those girls half a dollar each."

She stirred about her room and soon she had a few things together. She knew the girls hadn't hung up socks, so she laid a clean towel on the floor in front of the door of the room next to hers and spread the small gifts on it as nicely as she could.

Miss Cathy was so busy she hadn't heard Mr. Charlie come quietly up the stairs. The artist peered at her through the balusters, wondering what she was doing. He thought she looked so beautiful.

It wasn't long before Miss Cathy noticed Mr. Charlie and she told him what she had heard.

-"Good night." she finally said and went back to her room. Mr. Charlie went out into the street to smoke his pipe. He couldn't stop thinking about those pretty little bundles Miss Cathy had left at her neighbor’s door. Maybe he could follow her example. He had never really paid attention to the girls. he was usually too tired to pay attention to anyone. Surely it would please miss Cathy if he followed her nice gesture. He put his pipe away and went back to his room. He picked up two oranges and found two silver half dollars, then crept back into the hallway. He put the fruit on the towel and the money on top of the oranges. Mr. Charlie thought the whole thing looked much nicer now. Satisfied, he crept back to his room. He wanted to give Miss Cathy a Christmas surprise as well. She was such a beautiful and hearty young woman. He sat down at the table and began to write a sentimental note, picked up a plate, placed a bunch of grapes on it with the note underneath, and carried it as quietly as possible to the door of Miss Cathy's room.

The house was very quiet, and Mrs. Miller; the landlady, went upstairs to turn off the gas.

-"Oh, my word!" she said when she saw the upstairs corridor. " I wanted to give those children something, Santa beat me to it. Who would have thought that now."

Miller trotted back to her living quarter and opened her pantry. There were a few cakes on the shelves. She chose two heart-shaped pies filled with apples and raisins and headed back up the stairs." They're going to like that." she said to herself. Mrs. Miller knew her pies weren't the best, but she had baked them herself with love, and she didn't have much else to give.

It looked a bit funny, to see those two cakes in front of the threshold of a closed door.

It was already very late when the flicker of a candle came up the stairs. A lady with a sweet but slightly sad face brought Daisy and Rose a pair of red and blue mittens as a Christmas present. Mrs. Matthew was having a hard time. She worked all day in a large store to earn money. Her heart was heavy. Times were difficult. Her youngest child had been ill, and she had no partner to help her.

If elves were wandering the dingy hall that night, they would have seen Mrs. Matthew's face light up when she discovered that other souls had thought of the girls. She put the mittens on top of the other things and walked back to her lonely room with a smile on her lips.

One might think that there were enough presents now and that it was not possible for more to come. But Bee, an old kitchen maid, had found a baby cat in the street that afternoon and brought it home. When everything was dark, she too quietly went up the stairs and put the kitten next to the mittens.

The next day, in the gray morning, Daisy and Rose got up and quickly put on their clothes. They weren't exactly joyful, and they didn't need to look at their stocking, because they hadn't hung them up. But they had to dress the little ones while Mother prepared breakfast.

Daisy opened the door and let out a cry of surprise at all the beauty she found on the threshold.

In the middle of the towel, the cute kitten was curled up and sleeping sweetly.

Daisy and Rose clasped their hands together and gazed in blissful silence at the unexpected wealth that lay before them.

-"I believe that there is a Santa Claus and that he has heard us." Daisy said.

-"It must have been a fairy." Rose cried. 

-"I'm so happy!" Daisy danced around, "Now we can celebrate Christmas like everyone else."

-"Come, let's get mother and the babies." Rose pulled her sister by the arm.

The girls were swimming in the feeling that the world was all right and life was not half as hard as they had thought the night before.

This was such an unexpected bliss that the girls could hardly breathe, for fear that it might all be a dream that could fade into thin air again.

They kept smiling at each other all day long. This was a very wonderful Christmas day, one they would remember for a very long time, for the day had a few more surprises in store.

You see, once people start showing kindness, they find it hard to stop. Sometimes they even notice that they love each other very much; like Miss Cathy and Mr. Charlie for example.

The children were so full of joy that they had forgotten all about their little tree. When they went to get it, the spruce branch was gone. Instead, they found a note on the door, which read mysterious words: "Go and look in the back room!"

The girls ran to that room where their mother stood at the door. She threw open the door and let her daughters in. On a table in the middle of the room, they found a beautiful tree planted in a red box, lit with candles, and decorated with gilded baubles, candies, and a gift for everyone underneath.

Miss Cathy wore a beautiful white dress and red roses in her hair. She enjoyed the children's faces and wiped away a tear. Mr. Charlie couldn't take his eyes off her.

There were many Christmas trees in town that night, but none gave such hearty pleasure as the one that had magically taken the place of a lone spruce branch.

Daisy and Rose declared that this day was the most perfect of their lives. When they went back to bed, they were too happy for words.

"It's not so bad to be poor if people are nice to you." Rose sighed happily.

-"Well, I think I'd rather be rich." replied the ever-truthful Daisy.

When the moon peeked in through the window during her nightly round, she saw two smiling faces on the pillow.

A few months later another feast was celebrated. Miss Cathy wore an even prettier white dress and her two young next-door neighbors acted as bridesmaids.

You see, since that beautiful Christmas day, such a beautiful neighborly friendship blossomed in that house, and that is the most precious and meaningful gift anybody can ever give or receive!

D