As Christmas approaches I have tried to find a new Boy Scout related Christmas story for you to read. There does not seem to be very many of them, which is not too surprising. But I did find one for you, thanks to the Cumberland Times of West Virginia. The story is called “A Lone Scout’s Christmas“. It was written in 1917 by Cyrus Townsend Brady as one story of a book titled “A Little Book For Christmas.” The main character is a Boy Scout who is stranded in a Midwest snowstorm when the passenger compartment of the train in which he is the only occupant becomes detached from the rest of the train on Christmas Eve.
The story is a bit long to post as part of this blog, but here are the first several paragraphs of the story:
Every boy likes snow on Christmas Day, but there is such a thing as too much of it. Henry Ives, alone in the long railroad coach, stared out of the clouded windows at the whirling mass of snow with feelings of dismay. It was the day before Christmas, almost Christmas Eve. Henry did not feel any too happy, indeed he had hard work to keep down a sob. His mother had died but a few weeks before and his father, the captain of a freighter on the Great Lakes, had decided, very reluctantly, to send him to his brother who had a big ranch in western Nebraska.
Henry had never seen his uncle or his aunt. He did not know what kind of people they were. The loss of his mother had been a terrible blow to him and to be separated from his father had filled his cup of sorrow to the brim. His father’s work did not end with the close of navigation on the lakes, and he could not get away then although he promised to come and see Henry before the ice broke and traffic was resumed in the spring.
The long journey from the little Ohio town on Lake Erie to western Nebraska had been without mishap. His uncle’s ranch lay far away from the main line of the railroad on the end of the branch. There was but one train a day upon it, and that was a mixed train. The coach in which Henry sat was attached to the end of a long string of freight cars. Travel was infrequent in that section of the country. On this day Henry was the only passenger.
The train had been going up-grade for many miles and had just about reached the crest of the divide. Bucking the snow had become more and more difficult; several times the train had stopped. Sometimes the engine backed the train some distance to get headway to burst through the drift. So Henry thought nothing of it when the car came to a gentle stop.
The all-day storm blew from the west and the front windows of the car were covered with snow so he could not see ahead. Some time before the conductor and rear brakeman had gone forward to help dig the engine out of the drift and they had not come back.
Henry sat in silence for some time watching the whirling snow. He was sad; even the thought of the gifts of his father and friends in his trunk which stood in the baggage compartment of the car did not cheer him. More than all the Christmas gifts in the world, he wanted at that time his mother and father and friends.
“It doesn’t look as though it was going to be a very merry Christmas for me,” he said aloud at last, and then feeling a little stiff from having sat still so long he got up and walked to the front of the car.
It was warm and pleasant in the coach. The Baker heater was going at full blast and Henry noticed that there was plenty of coal. He tried to see out from the front door; but as he was too prudent to open it and let in the snow and cold he could make out nothing. The silence rather alarmed him. The train had never waited so long before.
Then, suddenly, came the thought that something very unusual was wrong. He must get a look at the train ahead. He ran back to the rear door, opened it and standing on the leeward side, peered forward. The engine and freight cars were not there! All he saw was the deep cut filled nearly to the height of the car with snow.
To read the rest of the story click on this LINK. By the way, this story is old enough to be in the public domain, so go ahead and use it in your troop and pack.
The end of the 2011 “100 Days Of Scouting” has arrived. This is the second year of the blogging event, but the first year for me. Twenty four blogs participated this year, including Scoutsigns, the originator of 100 Days of Scouting.
Around The Scouting Campfire #23 is ready for your enjoyment. In this episode Scoutmaster Steve and Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, talk about getting outside to play. The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 sing a song about an experience they had with some cattle. Buttons shares some “Scouting Truths” with us, thanks to Nick at the Nick’s Ramblings blog. And of course, it is time for the hosts to announce their winner of the PTC Media photo contest, who will receive a $20.00 coupon toward a purchase at Trailstop.com.
