The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nibsy's Christmas, by Jacob A. Riis

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Title: Nibsy's Christmas

Author: Jacob A. Riis

Release Date: August 9, 2006 [EBook #19014]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: Nibsy as Santa Claus.]

NIBSY'S CHRISTMAS

BY

JACOB AUGUST RIIS

Short Story Index Reprint Series

BOOKS FOR LIBRARIES PRESS

FREEPORT, NEW YORK

First Published 1893

Reprinted 1969

STANDARD BOOK NUMBER: 8369-3073-8

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 71-90590

MANUFACTURED BY HALLMARK LITHOGRAPHERS, INC. IN THE U.S.A.

* * * * *
_To Her Most Gracious Majesty
Louise
Queen of Denmark
the friend of the afflicted and the mother of the
motherless in my childhood's home
these leaves are inscribed
with the profound respect and admiration
of
the Author_

* * * * *

NIBSY'S CHRISTMAS

It was Christmas-eve over on the East Side. Darkness was closing in on a
cold, hard day. The light that struggled through the frozen windows of
the delicatessen store, and the saloon on the corner, fell upon men with
empty dinner-pails who were hurrying homeward, their coats buttoned
tightly, and heads bent against the steady blast from the river, as if
they were butting their way down the street.

The wind had forced the door of the saloon ajar, and was whistling
through the crack; but in there it seemed to make no one afraid. Between
roars of laughter, the clink of glasses and the rattle of dice on the
ha