The Little City of Hope

The Little City of Hope

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little City Of Hope, by F.
Marion Crawford This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
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Title: The Little City Of Hope A Christmas Story
Author: F. Marion Crawford
Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14526]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The
Little City of Hope
A CHRISTMAS STORY
BY
F. MARION CRAWFORD

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1907

_Copyright in the United States America, 1907_

CONTENTS
PAGE
1. HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX 1
2. HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF
HOPE 19 3. HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 35 4.
HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY 49 5. HOW THE
CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX
CAME OFF 63 6. HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND
NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX 74 7. HOW A LITTLE
WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY 87 8. HOW
THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST 105 9. HOW THE KING
OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE 116

I
HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX
"Hope is very cheap. There's always plenty of it about."
"Fortunately for poor men. Good morning."
With this mild retort and civil salutation John Henry Overholt rose and
went towards the door, quite forgetting to shake hands with Mr.
Burnside, though the latter made a motion to do so. Mr. Burnside
always gave his hand in a friendly way, even when he had flatly
refused to do what people had asked of him. It was cheap; so he gave it.
But he was not pleased when they did not take it, for whatever he chose
to give seemed of some value to him as soon as it was offered; even his
hand. Therefore, when his visitor forgot to take it, out of pure absence
of mind, he was offended, and spoke to him sharply before he had time
to leave the private office.
"You need not go away like that, Mr. Overholt, without shaking
hands."
The visitor stopped and turned back at once. He was thin and rather
shabbily dressed. I know many poor men who are fat, and some who
dress very well; but this was not that kind of poor man.
"Excuse me," he said mildly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I quite forgot."
He came back, and Mr. Burnside shook hands with becoming coldness,
as having just given a lesson in manners. He was not a bad man, nor a

miser, nor a Scrooge, but he was a great stickler for manners, especially
with people who had nothing to give him. Besides, he had already lent
Overholt money; or, to put it nicely, he had invested a little in his
invention, and he did not see any reason why he should invest any more
until it succeeded. Overholt called it selling shares, but Mr. Burnside
called it borrowing money. Overholt was sure that if he could raise
more funds, not much more, he could make a success of the
"Air-Motor"; Mr. Burnside was equally sure that nothing would ever
come of it. They had been explaining their respective points of view to
each other, and in sheer absence of mind Overholt had forgotten to
shake hands.
Mr. Burnside had no head for mechanics, but Overholt had already
made an invention which was considered very successful, though he
had got little or nothing for it. The mechanic who had helped him in its
construction had stolen his principal idea before the device was
patented, and had taken out a patent for a cheap little article which
every one at once used, and which made a fortune for him. Overholt's
instrument took its place in every laboratory in the world; but the
mechanic's labour-saving utensil took its place in every house. It was
on the strength of the valuable tool of science that Mr. Burnside had
invested two thousand dollars in the Air-Motor without really having
the smallest idea whether it was to be a machine that would move the
air, or was to be moved by it. A number of business men had done the
same thing.
Then, at a political dinner in a club, three of the investors had dined at
the same small table, and