Peace on Earth, Good-will to Dogs

by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

If you don't like Christmas stories, don't read this one!

And if you don't like dogs I don't know just what to advise you to do!

For I warn you perfectly frankly that I am distinctly pro-dog and distinctly pro-Christmas, and would like to bring to this little story whatever whiff of fir-balsam I can cajole from the make-believe forest in my typewriter, and every glitter of tinsel, smudge of toy candle, crackle of wrapping paper, that my particular brand of brain and ink can conjure up on a single keyboard!

And very large-sized dogs shall romp through every page! And the mercury shiver perpetually in the vicinity of zero! And every foot of earth be crusty-brown and bare with no white snow at all till the very last moment when you'd just about given up hope! And all the heart of the story is very, - oh very young!

For purposes of propriety and general historical authenticity there are of course parents in the story. And one or two other oldish persons. But they all go away just as early in the narrative as I can manage it. Are obliged to go away! Yet lest you find in this general combination of circumstances some sinister threat of audacity, let me conventionalize the story at once by opening it at that most conventional of all conventional Christmas-story hours, - the Twilight of Christmas Eve. Nuff said? - Christmas Eve, you remember? Twilight? Awfully cold weather? And somebody very young? Now for the story itself!

After five blustering, wintry weeks of village speculation and gossip there was of course considerable satisfaction in being the first to solve the mysterious holiday tenancy of the Rattle-Pane House. Breathless with excitement Flame Nourice telephoned the news from the village post-office.

From a pedestal of boxes fairly bulging with red-wheeled go-carts, one keen young elbow rammed for balance into a gay glassy shelf of stick-candy, green tissue garlands tickling across her cheek, she sped the message to her mother.

"O Mother-Funny!" triumphed Flame. "I've found out who's Christmasing at the Rattle-Pane House! It's a red-haired setter dog with one black ear! And he's sitting at the front gate this moment! Superintending the unpacking of the furniture van! And I've named him Lopsy!"

"Why, Flame; how absurd!" gasped her mother. In consideration of the fact that Flame's mother had run all the way from the icy-footed chicken yard to answer the telephone it shows distinctly what stuff she was made of that she gasped nothing else.

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Short Stories, Humor, Classics, Animals, Dogs

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a nationally recognized American author. She was a frequent contributor to The Ladies' Home Journal.aEleanor Hallowell Abbott was a nationally recognized American author. She was a frequent contributor to The Ladies' Home Journal. Born: September 22, 1872, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Died: June 4, 1958, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States Spouse: Fordyce Coburn (m. 1908) Parents: Edward Abbott Education: Radcliffe College

Reviews

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite weird punctuation (what are all those dashes supposed to indicate?) and obvious period details this book feels remarkably modern. You could turn it into a modern story in about 15 minutes. You could turn it into a modern movie rom com script without a great deal of effort. Dogs! So cute. Oh, go on: it's free, it's short, it's amusing, it'll get you feeling jolly.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 STARS
This Christmas novella is by turns whimsical and absurd. It's such a cute premise and the characters are fairly well-drawn, but some of it was just so silly I found myself shaking my head (and this is coming from someone who loves the fanciful). I mean, really, even if one had such well-trained dogs that they would all sit around a dinner table and let you put animal masks on them (not masks-for-animals, but animal-masks-for-humans like for a masquerade) which I *doubt*, I simply could not believe that a *cat* would permit such an indignity! ;-) Still, if you're in the mood for a fluffy Christmas lark, give it a whirl. It's free on Project Gutenberg.

[Emer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps this little story was just too cutesy for my taste but I imagine anyone reading this as an adult would eventually find the childish characterisation of the main character, Flame, too much to take. She is a character that is in her late teens but it was easy to frequently forget this with the kiddish dialogue throughout the story. But such was the nature of the dialogue in this story; short and sweet. I can't say that I found the plot particularly exciting, nor was it interesting to me. It is unlikely that I would have stayed with this story, as short as it is, only for I listened to it on audiobook. It's available as a public domain audiobook for anyone interested in checking it out and the reader does a wonderful job of enthusiastically bringing the story to life. This is about the only positive experience and festive feeling I was able to take away from the story. If you just want a short, somewhat silly story for some festive cheer then perhaps this story is for you. However I can think of a lot better Christmas stories I'd prefer to be reading.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Project Gutenberg for this book.
An odd, scrappy, unfinished-feeling Christmas story. If you like dogs and dream of doing holidays your way, you'll enjoy "Flame"'s rebellion and independence. She's very young for her age, at the same time as she has a job and makes her own decisions. There's a light sprinkling of the Hallowell magic on this story but it's too short and undeveloped; it's chopped off right about when things get interesting. Also--Flame? Yeah, kind of a change on the surname but...she also adresses her parents as "Mother-Funny" and "Father-Funny" when she wants them to fall into line with her wishes...which at that time I doubt would work very well.
When Hallowell's stories are good, they are very, very good. This one just felt like she was over her deadline and sent in what she had. Not her best.
Two and half stars.

[Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basis for this short holiday story was cute and simple in essence, but Abbott just goes way overboard with the ultra-whimsy and ultra-cutesy affectation in her dialogue in particular.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this a Christmas story? Well, sorta. Is it about dogs? Well, kinda. The central character is a young girl named Flamande, called Flame, which is as good a name for a character as I've ever heard. Flame loves Christmas, and she loves dogs, and she's begun to have warm thoughts about Bertrand, the Lay Reader in her father's church. This is a short but likable read, just Christmasy enough to set the stage, but not so much that you couldn't enjoy it at any time of the year.

[Laura Bang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a story about an 18-year-old girl who decides to throw a Christmas party for someone else's dogs (only it's better than that sounds).

I found this while looking for Christmas stories on Project Gutenberg. I'm not a dog person so I totally would have passed on this, except I recognized the author's name as being the same author as Little Eve Edgarton, a delightfully odd story and one of my faves. This story, too, is delightfully odd. I realize my description above isn't terribly compelling, but the delight comes from Abbott's use of language and general silliness.

So, if you're into Christmas stories and/or dogs and/or oddities, give this a try. It's a short read anyway.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of this author. If this your first time reading her, give her another chance. Many of her novels and short stories can be found for free downloads as they are I the public domain. Check out the Gutenberg Project as one source.

[Ginger · Rating 1 out of 5]

awful and silly

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute story

This is a cute story of a young lady simply wanting a perfect Christmas, and receiving mishap and adventure instead.

[E.F. Buckles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't do much for me. The description of this short story says that if you don't like Christmas stories or dogs, this story probably isn't for you. Well, I do like both of those things and the Christmas and dog parts of the story were okay enough. What I don't like is an 18 year old main character being written like she has the personality of the 5-6 year old children I teach in Sunday school, or maybe even younger. Everything from her dialog to the way her thoughts and physical movements were described (not to mention sitting on her father's lap like a little kid to talk to him) like she was a toddling little kid. All of this even as her mother is concerned about a lay reader at the church potentially being attracted to the girl and maybe proposing someday soon.

Overall, I really didn't enjoy this. Not enough dogs, too much annoying, overly childish teenage main character. It was honestly a little odd. The best I can say is that the very end of the story had a couple of amusing moments, but it wasn't enough to make me ever want to revisit this story or consider it a Christmas classic.

[Rhys-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This must be one of the strangest Christmas stories in existence. Though Flame was eighteen, she acted years younger. The entire dog Christmas party was hard to believe, and I especially found it incredible that the animals would have allowed Flame to put masks on them. And I never understood why she wanted them to wear masks, or where the masks even came from. The story also ended abruptly and felt unfinished. I also didn't care for Flame's rebellious attitude.

Despite all its defects, if I had actually enjoyed this light and humorous novella, I would have rated it more than two stars. However, I barely enjoyed it at all--definitely not as much as the introductory paragraphs led me to expect. While others might like this story more, better vintage Christmas stories exist and I wouldn't recommend this one.

[LaShana Claude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Peace on Earth, Good-will to Dogs

Author: Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

Release date: December 29, 2006 [eBook #20213]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

An all dogs Christmas Carol

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quirky Christmas dog story. As it says on the cover, "If you don't like Christmas stories, don't listen to this one! And if you don't like dogs I don't know just what to advise you to do!" Whatever you do, don't think it's a contemporary tale so don't judge it by the culture of this time. It's a precious peep into a forgotten era - the one of my childhood!

[Janis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author’s introduction said the book was about children & the adults would be gotten rid of as soon as possible. Then we learn the “child” is an 18 year old girl; certainly no child in my opinion.
Anyway, from the title, I had high hopes for this book. Mostly, it was just stupid.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read.

I really enjoyed reading this story. The characters are well developed. I would have preferred a more developed ending rather than the story ending with a "end".

[Kathryn Parry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet little tale.

[Grenouille78 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and silly. It was fun

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute short serfdom 1920. 🐶

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

seemed very silly

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is precious and funny. I read it in a single evening.