L2-5-1

One December night, a long, long time ago, a family sat around the fireplace in their home.

A golden light from the fire filled the room.

The mother and father laughed at something their oldest daughter had just said.

The girl was 17, much older than her little brother and sister, who were only five and six years old.

A very old woman, the family's grandmother, sat knitting in the warmest corner of the room.

And a baby, the youngest child, smiled at the fire's light from its tiny bed.

This family had found happiness in the worst place in all of New England.

They had built their home high up in the White Mountains, where the wind blows violently all year long.

The family lived in an especially cold and dangerous spot.

Stones from the top of the mountain above their house would often roll down the mountainside

and wake them in the middle of the night.

No other family lived near them on the mountain, but this family was never lonely.

They enjoyed each other's company and often had visitors.

Their house was built near an important road that connected the White Mountains to the St. Lawrence River.

People traveling through the mountains in wagons always stopped at the family's door for a drink of water and a friendly word.

Lonely travelers crossing the mountains on foot would step into the house to share a hot meal.

Sometimes the wind became so wild and cold that these strangers would spend the night with the family.

The family offered every traveler who stopped at their home a kindness that money could not buy.

On that December evening, the wind came rushing down the mountain.

It seemed to stop at their house to knock at the door before it roared down into the valley.

The family fell silent for a moment, but then they realized that someone really was knocking at their door.

The oldest girl opened the door and found a young man standing in the dark.

The old grandmother put a chair near the fireplace for him.

The oldest daughter gave him a warm, shy smile.

And the baby held up its little arms to him.

This fire is just what I needed, the young man said.

The wind has been blowing in my face for the last two hours.