When David's scientist father heads off to the battlefields of World War I, in order to study a new strain of bacillus just emerging in the soldiers, his mother accompanies his father and David himself is sent to the 'hill country,' where his former nurse Johanna now lives with her husband, Barney. These two good souls, both immigrants from Ireland, share their stories of the fairies with David, and soon he himself encounters one of these little people, in the form of the 'Locked-Out Fairy.' With the help of this magical guide, and prompted by his own loneliness, and his desire to find some sort of Christmas feeling, David begins to pay visits to the four other households on the snowbound mountain where he has come to stay. In each one he finds others who are also lonely, and feeling like exiles in this isolated place. There is Fritz Grossman, the German train signalman, who is shunned by everyone in the vicinity, because of his country of origin, and the outbreak of the war. There is old Uncle Joab, the African-American caretaker of the nearby lumber camp, who longs for former days in Virginia, and has only his fiddle to keep him company. There are the boy Alfred and his mother, who hail from somewhere in South America, and who are sojourning in the mountains because Alfred had been sick, and the mountain air was recommended by his doctor. And finally, there is Nicholas Bassaraba, the trapper who came from somewhere in southeastern Europe - most likely somewhere in the Balkans, given the story he shares, although Sawyer's geographic description is rather confusing, as she mentions Bassaraba' country being somewhere near both the Mediterranean and Prussia! - and who now lives by himself, far from anything he has ever known.

Each of these strangers make David welcome, and share a Christmas story with him, which he in turn shares with Johanna and Barney, softening the former's heart, and causing her to slowly reconsider her idea that all these foreigners and strangers must be 'heathens.' When the artist, Mr. Peter, unexpectedly arrives, David enlists his help in creating a most unusual Christmas celebration, one which will bring all of these strangers together in good fellowship. As he observes to this new friend, "Christmas isn't things - it's thoughts," and no thought is more important at this time of the year marking the birth of Christ, than love for one's fellow human beings. The Christmas Eve celebration is a marked success, and features another story of the season - the Irish folktale concerning Saint Bridget, and her magical journey to the Holy Land, to witness and participate in the Nativity - this time told by Johanna. When Christmas Day dawns, David's happiness is completed by one last blessing, in the form of the arrival of his mother, come home from Europe...

Originally published in 1916, at the height of World War I, Ruth Sawyer's This Way to Christmas is a poignant, hopeful tale, one which offers a strong rebuke to the acrimonious nationalism and disregard for common humanity that led to that conflict, and which situates Christmas, and what it represents, as an answer to those ills. It also offers a celebration of the idea of America as a place to which people of all backgrounds can come, and live together in peace. I found the inset stories presented by the characters fascinating and often moving. Barney's tale of Uncle Teig and his Christmas Eve journey with the fairies comes from Irish folklore, and is one I had just recently run across, in somewhat different form, in Eric A. Kimmel's Asher and the Capmakers: A Hanukkah Story. Johanna's retelling of the legend of Bridget is a story that can also be found in such books as Bryce Milligan's Brigid's Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story. Some of the other stories, from the German tale of a Christmas apple, and how a miracle occurred when Hermann the clockmaker offered it as a gift to the Christ child, to Uncle Joab's tale of how Santa Claus allowed the animals to choose their own characteristics, were unknown to me. The story told by Alfred's mother comes from Spain - although she and her son are South American, the implication is that she was originally from that country - and is clearly a legend related to Three Kings Day, although Sawyer has gotten her dates wrong, situating the tale on Christmas Eve. One wonders whether this was owing to ignorance of the fact that Three King Day occurs in early January, or whether she changed it deliberately, in the belief that it would make her story more relatable for her young American readers. The story of the Romany (gypsy) people who sheltered the Holy Family somewhere in the Balkans, when they were on the run from Herod, was also interesting, as most scholars believe that this ethnic group began arriving in Europe sometime between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. The way in which the story is told reflects the now discarded idea that the Romany came from Egypt - thus, the name gypsies - rather than India.

In any case, the stories told by the characters here are interesting, and often moving, and are matched by the overarching story, which weaves them together in a narrative about appreciating the commonalities existing between seemingly different peoples. I appreciated this, and I appreciated the idea of Christmas as an idea, rather than just a collection of customs. I read the edition of this book that came out in 1924, and that featured the gorgeous color plate artwork of Maginel Wright Barney, something which greatly increased my reading pleasure. All that said, my enjoyment of This Way to Christmas was not unalloyed, as Sawyer's depiction of some of her characters is heavily reliant on stereotype. This is particularly apparent in her depiction of Uncle Joab, who is referred to as a 'darky' and 'n*gger' on more than one occasion, and who speaks in the broken dialect often assigned to African-American characters in vintage children's fiction. Although it is very progressive, on the one hand, that in 1916 Sawyer had her other characters welcome Uncle Joab into their midst, as one of themselves, the manner of his depiction is anything but progressive, and is an unfortunate mark of the times in which the story was created. In one very uncomfortable scene, he insists on waiting upon the rest of the guests, before eating himself, even when urged to desist. I have seen a review which mentioned reading this book to children, and omitting the dialect, the objectionable words mentioned above, and the scene in which Uncle Joab waits upon the other guests, and I think that this is a good compromise. The story here has undeniable worth, both in its telling and in its overall idea of Christmas as something that can bring people together, so I would hate to think it had to be discarded as a story for children, because of these objectionable elements. Older readers, of course, are capable of situating the story in its context, but for younger children, I would recommend this one only with adult involvement. ( )