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.
It was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the old year, and the snow was falling
fast. In the cold and the darkness, a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet, roamed through the
streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she left home, but they were not of much use.
They were very large, so large; indeed, that they had belonged to her mother and the poor little
creature had lost them in running across the street to avoid two carriages that were rolling along at a
terrible rate. One of the slippers she could not find, and a boy seized upon the other and ran away
with it, saying that he could use it as a cradle, when he had children of his own.
So the little girl went on with her little naked feet, which were quite red and
blue with the cold. In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and had
a bundle of them in her hands. No one had bought anything of her the
whole day, nor had any one given here even a penny. Shivering with
She drew one out-"scratch!" 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 *, to the little girl. Then the match went out,
and there remained nothing but the thick, damp, cold wall before her.
cold and hunger, she crept along; poor little child, she looked the picture of misery.
The snowflakes fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls on her shoulders, but
she regarded them not. Lights were shining from every window, and there was a
savory smell of roast goose, for it was New-year's eve- yes, she remembered that.
sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under
her, but she could not keep off the cold; and she dared not go home, for she
had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father
would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they
had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the
largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost
frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could
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. "Some one is dying," thought the little girl, for her old
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;
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 Christmas-tree." And she made
haste to light the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to keep
her grandmother there. And the matches glowed with a light that was
brighter than the noon-day, and her grandmother had never appeared so
large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and they both
flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there
was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.In the
dawn of morning there lay the poor little one, with pale cheeks and
smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had been frozen to
death on the last evening of the year; and the New-year's sun rose
and shone upon a little corpse! The child still sat, in the
stiffness of death, holding the matches in her hand, one bundle of
which was burnt. "She tried to warm herself," said some. No one
imagined what beautiful things she had seen, nor into what glory she
had entered with her grandmother, on New-year's day.
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