tea was over, and they gathered
around the fire with Uncle William in father's arm-chair.

The shadows were dark in the corners of the room, but the soft
wavering light gilded everything within reach, touching Grandfather's
portrait with its gentle magic, till he himself seemed to be standing
there, smiling and about to speak. The young faces turned to Uncle
William were full of quiet content.

"Do you know what Miss Brown has named our house?" Bess asked. "She
calls it the house with the Big Front Door."

"That is a very good name and reminds me of a story."

"Oh, please tell it," they all begged, and so without preface Uncle
William begun:

"Once upon a time a man built a house. He selected the materials with
greatest care, and watched every brick, stone, and beam used in its
construction, that everything might be strong and good. But it was to
the front door that he gave most thought. This was of oak after a
design of his own, and was wide and massive, with hinges of
wrought-iron and a dragon's-head knocker. Some of his neighbors
admired it, others found fault with it, objecting that it was out of
proportion and too large for a dwelling-house. But after a while they
discovered that it was more than an ordinary door. There was some
magic about it; it shed a radiance over the whole neighborhood. People
when they were perplexed would look towards it, and presently their
doubts would fade away. Those who were despondent or sorrowful were
cheered and comforted by the sight of it. In stormy weather it was
like a small neighborhood sun. And no one rejoiced more than its owner
in the strange power of the door, for he had a heart full of love and
goodwill, and he and his children were constantly doing kindnesses to
their neighbors. They were a happy family too among themselves, and
the reason seemed to be because they lived in the radiance of the
magic door.

"At length, to the sorrow of his friends, this good man died. In his
parting instructions to his children he warned them that the door
might sometime lose its power, and if its hinges should ever become
rusty, or its lock hard to turn, he directed them to a certain iron
box where they would find a key which, if used according to the
directions attached, would soon restore it. This made little or no
impression upon them at the time, for, since the oldest of them could
remember, the door had been always the same, and it seemed improbable
that it would ever change.