02633cam a22003613u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000400012624500400016626400510020630000470025733600260030433700260033033800360035650000310039250801870042352013490061053400740195965300220203365300280205565300270208365300230211070000380213385600570217185600430222870294UtSlPG20260610134627.0mcr n260607r20231910utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a12021146  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aStanley, Caroline Abbot,d1849-191914aThe First Church's Christmas barrel 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2023  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2023-03-15  aDavid Edwards, PrimeNumber and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)  a"The First Church's Christmas Barrel" by Caroline Abbot Stanley is a fictional narrative published in the early 20th century, specifically in the early 1910s. The book addresses themes surrounding charity and the true spirit of Christmas, centering on the struggles of a missionary family as they face poverty and the complexities of receiving help from their home church. The narrative explores the contrasts between genuine generosity and the superficiality often surrounding charitable acts.  The story follows Reverend John Haloran and his wife Mary as they navigate the hardships of frontier life, especially during the Christmas season. When a barrel of donated items arrives from the First Church, the couple anticipates relief and joy, especially for their four children. However, their excitement quickly turns to disappointment as they discover that the contents are largely unsuitable and insufficient for their needs. This leads Mary to take a strong stand against the church's neglect, igniting a call for genuine support rather than merely symbolic gestures. The story culminates in a meeting at the First Church where the women confront their own complacency and redefine what it truly means to give, ultimately learning that love and thoughtfulness should accompany acts of charity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cUnited States: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1910  aChristmas stories  aMissionaries -- Fiction  aWest (U.S.) -- Fiction  aCharity -- Fiction1 aHoskins, Gayle Porter,d1887-19624 uhttps://archive.org/details/firstchurchschri0000caro40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70294